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REV. THOMAS NIELD 



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M A NSON'S V^ISION 



A J30^m 



BY 



Rev. Thomas Nield 



THE ADVANCE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 

1912 






COPyHfOMTCO BY THE AUTHOH. 1919. 






CANTO I 



Manson's Vision 

CANTO 1 

My mind was burdened with a complex theme, 

Involving the eternal verities, 

And sank beneath the weight, when darkness came 

And on its bosom lullabied my thoughts. 

Becoming then oblivious of the weight, 

I soon was in the borderland where dreams 

Are born ; from whence, as from a chrysalis 

Emerging, I became exalted to 

A state of super-consciousness, in which 

Existence was an exquisite delight, 

And I a bubble on an ocean of 

Placidity, While thus in sweet repose, 

I saw the conformation of a ray 

Of light, as when a rainbow dawns upon 

The clouds, which, as I gazed on it, assumed 

A contour and a personality. 

Causing me wonderment expressionless. 

For never on the earth had I beheld 

Such blended beauty, having all the hues 

That seem like hints of color in a shell, 

Glinting in playful changefulness upon 

A base of pearly purity ; and yet 

So indistinct in outline as to give 

No thought of size but that of majesty. 



6 MANSON'S VISION 

While gazing on him, fascinated to 

An awed deUght, a voice I seemed to feel, 

My being penetrating with a sound 

That was a liquid sweetness thrilling me. 

And thus, in more than common speech, he said : 

"Here is the threshold of a higher life; 

A threshold thou art privileged to pass. 

Receive thou, then, that life in plenitude. 

With the equipment of its powers." 

We rose above the atmosphere of earth 

At once 
Into a dark immensity, which made 
More luminous the splendor of his sheen. 
When to myself and my environment 
A strange transition came, and I perceived 
That space was an ethereal substance whose 
Conductibility enabled us 
To traverse distance with the speed of light, 
As prompted by the impulse of his will. 
In the vast circumambiency were worlds 
In numbers baffling all the power of thought 
And numerals to represent; with which 
Compared the earth were as a golden coin, 
The sun a silver shield. A startling burst 
Of incandescent light enrobed them as 
I gazed, and so o'erwhelmed me that I sank 
Into a swoon of ecstasy. 

Quickly 
The one beside me more distinct became 
In contour, and our natures seemed to blend. 
As in the spectrum of a blissful life ; 
Yet individual life, with knowledge his 



A POEM— CANTO I . 7 

And mine the ignorance. Dumb in my awe 
I viewed the scene, when he resumed discourse. 

"Life is a ladder with successive rungs. 
As in the Httle sphere on earth, from the 
Minutest creature up to man, who in 
Comparison is god to all below. 
So in the realm of spirit. Rung on rung 
It reaches till its top is near to God, 
Who is disclosed in amplitude to suit 
The varied scope of their intelligence, 
Up to the throne. Here is a lower rung — 
Infinity adumbrant — whence thou shalt 
Ascend and see, as in a mirror, what 
To direct vision were invisible." 
At once the orbs were more distinctly grand ; 
Nor telescope devised by man could give 
An inkling of the magnitude to which 
The separate ones enlarged as I beheld. 
Al, though diverse, with sameness as the leaves 
Upon a tree, not one but seemed a fit 
Abode for beings with a lofty form 
Of life. Nor orbs alone were magnified. 
But my attendant grew in person more 
Majestic, as a mountain when the sun's 
Warm fingers fold away the curtains of 
Its mist. And I myself seemed to myself 
Enlarged to fuller rounded consciousness. 
Intensified as with increasing life. 
Expanded in my intellectual powers, 
With open floodgates of desire to know 
The m.ysteries of the spheres — floodgates through 
which 



8 MANSON'S VISION 

His will could pour a satisfying stream. 

While gazing in rapt silence, I beheld 

Him swathed in iridescence, as it were 

A robe of sunlight with sapphiric tint, 

His countenance a beatific smile, 

To which a glow of high intelligence 

Gave captivating power, until I felt 

So bound to him by bands of love I could 

Not, would not, part; so close, his nature more 

Transfused into my own, and I became 

Subservient to his mind and will ; at which 

My faculties unfolded as a rose 

When quickening sunbeams burn within its heart. 

Surely, I thought, in him was Deity, 

Since less than Deity had no such power, 

And I essayed to worship him, when he 

At once forbade. 

"Worship belongs to Him 
Alone who flung these orbs as dewdrops from 
The fingertips of His omnipotence, 
To glitter in the boundless field of space. 
I am, compared with Him, as mote to thee, 
Or as an atom to infinity. 
He is the Infinite who made the worlds 
And all therein. In absoluteness of 
His rule and essence of His being. He 
Transcends our finite thought, though mirroring 
His character in finite forms — which, to 
Be understood, He must perforce employ — 
Revealing it in various aspects known 
As attributes, to serve as ideals for 
The finite mind. Yet, as the final fact. 



A POEM— CANTO I 

He has no attribute but that of Will — 

Will as the universal law by which 

All things exist and operate — and what 

Are known as attributes are modes in which 

His will displays activity that keeps 

In endless whirl around some central plan. 

To Him duration has no measurement, 

But is a limitless arena where 

His purposes have unincumbered play, 

And are and will remain unchangeable. 

For what He is He ever was, what knows 

Has ever known, what does has ever had 

In mind. From gravity of atoms to 

The intermovements of the worlds that hang 

In linked dependence, each on all and all 

On each, no change that has been, is or will 

Be, but belongs to one harmonious thought 

And purpose ever clearly in His mind. 

Hence nothing is but what He wills to be 

Contributive to some great ultimate, 

As vouched by sufferance when He could prevent. 

E'en sin, by sufferance, has been in His plan. 

But reprobated by the law of life 

In its retributive effects. Wherefore 

From no event comes disappointment or 

Surprise, or other perturbation of 

The mind, but He serenely contemplates 

The grand concatenation of the whole. 

Feeling toward all as He has ever felt, 

Will ever feel — complacently. Elsewise 

He must have wrought in ignorance, which but 

A pigmy finite could conceive. All things 



10 MANSON'S VISION 

Are by and from and for Himself. Suns are 

To Him as hands to thee, and planets as 

His fingers. Gravitation is the grasp 

That keeps them all in harmony, and light 

A vitalizing thrill of energy 

That weaves the variegated web of life. 

From mite to man, in whom His attributes 

Reflect with an immortal glow ; and thence 

Expanding in a multiplicity 

Of force, effulges in the beings at 

Life's apex in the more transcendent orbs. 

And thus He is the motive power in all, 

While all His operations ramify 

As law. His will and energy behind, 

Directing all, as human thought and will 

Direct the motors of the flesh. Not that 

The seen are parts or elements of Him, 

But media of communication to 

The finite consciousness, and vehicles 

Of energy, through which He executes 

His purposes and. plans within the sphere 

Of finite cognizance ; for only so 

Can finite mind approximate the thought 

Of Him as having personality." 

But does not immanence, I asked, imply 
His personality in everything, 
So that in all are elements of Him ? 

''He is not that through which He operates ; 
For that which moves a thing is not the thing. 
Thou art not what thou wert, and yet thou art. 
Then what thou wert had something that was not 
Thyself, while yet as real as thyself. 



A POEM— CANTO I 

It gaged the possibilities of thought, 

And biased all thy moods and impulses. 

But now thou art a sublimated self. 

Therefore, although it was thy vehicle 

Of action, it was not thyself, or now, 

Without it, thou wert not thyself. So while 

In matter His potential immanence 

Is seen, to the last atom, matter is 

Not God, nor yet an element of Him. 

He has sustained the universal frame 

Of being in a creakless harmony, 

And unto those in every orb revealed 

Himself so graciously, so greatly blest 

Its occupants, that they have seemed to be 

The special objects of His providence. 

The individual person in His eye, 

As though he were the sole inhabitant. 

What thou art thinking mine is not my power 

But His, whose will I represent, my bliss 

That will to do. Thou shalt attend me and 

Behold His works with vision clarified." 

Then he took flight, as human lips would say; 
Yet movement was but as a play of mind. 
From orb to orb as that from thought to thought, 
Unhampered by the thrall of gravity. 
The chafe of friction and the consciousness 
Of time, when, as the panorama of 
A dream, the scene dissolved and we were on 
An orb whose magnitude made earth a dwarf, 
Its substance as of light solidified. 
With splendor that had blinded fleshly eyes. 



12 MANSON'S VISION 

But little was that made me think of earth. 

No wanton winds in blustering- carnival; 

No sun oppressed with scorch of torrid heat; 

Nor Arctic rigors racked with ruthless cold ; 

But all was balmy as the breath of June ; 

So equable, I nothing thought of heat 

Or cold, as one at noon thinks not of light; 

And silence and serenity were as 

A circumambient atmosphere perfumed 

With peace, which to inhale I thought was heaven. 

Peopled it was with beings who, compared, 

Made man a speck of insignificance. 

Stately they were in form, so far as form 

Definable they had, and in their mien 

As dignified as Justice in his robes, 

And ceaseless in some high activity. 

As though intent upon congenial tasks. 

Yet every motion had reposeful ease, 

As eagle floating on the upper air. 

While happiness in every feature played, 

As twinkling sunbeams on a shimmering lake. 

Who, whence and what those blessed ones ? I asked ; 

To which he answered me : 

"These are the first 
And sole inhabitants of this abode ; 
A world prepared for them and they for it. 
Eons on eons have elapsed since then ; 
And here in some sublime activity 
Will they remain. Spirit they are, and yet 
In elemental matter bodied, which 
Is an attenuated substance as 
Removed from grosser forms as gases from 



A POEM— CANTO I 13. 

Granitic rock, hence from decay exempt, 

To whom the name of death is all unknown. 

Were they pure spirit, thou couldst see them not; 

And lower spirits but in part perceive 

The higher glories of superior ones. 

In this disrobement of thy lower self, 

Thy nature is exalted to a plane 

Where these and higher orders thou mayst glimpse,. 

As the dull ox beheld thee in the flesh, 

But not the essence of their nature see. 

God only is pure spirit, hence unseen ; 

Than which but little can be told, since words 

Express but what is knowable ; while He 

In person is unknown, except as He 

Impinges on the consciousness, making 

The finite feel His immanence, and as 

Revealed His character. To finite He 

Is infinite as earth is to an ant, 

Unmeasured by imagination's line. 

Enthroned in vastness greater than His works. 

While occupying space in definite 

Extent, since having personality. 

In whose immensity the mind is lost 

As a dropt pebble in the vastest sea. 

And seeing thus that finite spirits may 

Not pierce the veil that hides the Infinite, 

He can but manifest Himself to those 

Beneath through media on their plane. So, in 

Gradation, those above see those below". 

Thus is one law applied to every sphere. 

These, in the nascence of their being, had 

Probationary testing, to impart 



14 HANSON'S VISION 

A fixedness to fealty. The test 

They stood and evil so refused, which was 

A cup within their reach that sparkled at 

The brim. So they acquired a strength that made 

Their will a moral adamant." 

Evil- 
Evil — evil ! How the word rang in me, 
To and fro, as though I were a belfry 
Where it clanged and lingered — lingered dolefully. 
Never before had it so ill a sound, 
Or such a sough of mystery in its tone. 
Evil I thought impossible; for how 
Impurity where purity was throned? 
How hell-seed in a soil so like to heaven? 
What could be here to give it nourishment ? 
The thought was in my mind a rankling thorn, 
O'er which I needed not to wince in words, 
For it was seen by him attending as 
At noonday one might see a printed page, 
And he discoursed upon the mystery thus : 

"Think not of evil as an entity — 
A thing created — nor a quality 
Or attribute of aught created, nor 
Occasioned by the Infinite, save as 
The foresight of the possibility 
Involved in the creative act, with the 
Resultant actuality, is such. 
Finite existence is dependent on 
The Infinite, from whom its being came ; 
Whose will is law, obeying which the life 
Becomes an ornament of burnished gold, 
Or, disobeying, is a blot upon 



A POEM— CANTO I 15 

Creation's brow. Thus, then, evil and good, 
As moral qualities, are attitudes 
Of will toward what is known of God, and willed 
To know and do. As active causes they 
Produce phenomenal effects, as they 
Antagonize or are obedient to 
The equipoise of universal law. 
As seeing is an action of the eye, 
Which, closing, darkens, opening, sees the light, 
And leads to stumbling or to steady step. 
So finite will — the moral motor of 
The I — determines finite destiny. 
Entailing retribution or reward. 
As breathing has no moral quality. 
So sin is not nor yet reward to such 
As could not otherwise than as they do. 
But these intelligences were endowed 
With moral power, hence were amenable 
To moral law, and as their exercise 
Of power their destiny became, since in 
Its use they showed their attitude of will, 
And grew habituated to, and so 
Established in, their loyalty. Choosing 
Obedience, they resisted its reverse ; 
For possibilities of power tempt to 
Its willful exercise, which exercise 
Is evil as a cause with its effects." 
Let ignorance, I said, apologize 
For my presumption when I ask, What bar 
Could stay benevolent Omnipotence 
From making them infallible, that so 
Might be an infinite of harmony? 



i6 MANSON'S VISION 

"Are they too low or high to fit thy thought? 
InfalHble, they had been brutes or gods, 
Of law unconscious or superior to. 
Not that the Infinite would do, and this 
To do would be to contradict Himself; 
Since 'twere to will their independence of 
His will. But all besides the Infinite 
Is of the Infinite, hence finite and 
Conditioned on conformity to law, 
Which has essential uniformity. 
Its operations in the various spheres 
Developing the parts of one vast plan. 
Were they infallible, they were above 
All other orders of intelligence. 
And thus thy question is reduced to this : 
Why were not they made more than Seraphim 
And Cherubim? As well ask. Why above 
The brute? Or, Why not all infallible? 
Enough for thee to know : the Infinite 
Displays Himself in works of infinite 
Diversity, be it in matter, mind 
Or moral consciousness and power. 
In matter thou mayst see His thoughts expressed 
In dovetailed variformity — beauty, 
Sublimity and grandeur blent — to be 
The scaffolding of life, from which to build 
The spirit skyward. So has ever been ; 
For matter ever was, in infinite 
Extension, never more nor less than now. 
But matter furnishes benevolence 
No object to receive its benefits. 
Only through conscious life, from lowest forms 



A POEM— CANTO I 17 

To those upon its highest altitudes, 

He manifests His ampHtude of power, 

Appreciated but by those endowed 

With attributes that miniature His own ; 

As conscience, judgment, moral quality 

Of will, their selfhood's crown. These, in 

Benevolence, He so creates. Yet He 

Himself was never solitarily 

Existent, but through" the eternal years 

His bliss was in benevolent employ, 

In modes appropriate to infinity ; 

Beyond the fact of which our thoughts are lost 

Upon a shoreless sea. But this is known : 

These beings are; and as their greatness such 

Is their capacity for bliss or woe. 

Balanced upon their attitude of will; 

By consonance of which is harmony." 

As lifts 
A mist and leaves the landscape laughing in 
A lustrous light, so lifted he the mist 
That erst had lain upon my thoughts, while yet 
The pillars of an old conception fell 
From under me, to learn that matter is 
Eternal, since I thought this property 
Belonged to God alone, when, to relieve 
My weak perplexity, he thus resumed : 
"While matter is no element of God, 
It is the medium manifesting His 
Activity. Imagine, if thou canst. 
Duration ere the birthdays of the worlds, 
With naught existent but the Infinite; 
Nothing but spirit, in passivity 



i8 HANSON'S VISION 

From all eternity, eternally 

Without the bliss activity affords. 

If he was satisfied with such a state, 

Why change? If not, why not eternally 

As now? His nature was eternally 

The same. Enough. He ever was as now. 

The revolutions of the wheels of change 

Are a continuance of eternal thought, 

Hence of eternal action, the result 

Of thought, with something to be acted on." 

Since, I replied, all forms of things began, 
And He, the Maker, was before the made, 
A period was when He preceded all. 

"Things are expressions of His active thought; 
And since He ever thought, things ever were. 
Beginnings being but in change of forms, 
Beyond which fact a thousand questions rise, 
Which to the finite are a labyrinth, 
Where thought may wander and be ever lost. 
Finites need know no more than what He is 
To them in their dependence on His will ; 
And only curiosity would more. 
To man He is revealed in threefoldness. 
To meet the threefold aspect of his need — 
One God, yet three in personality. 
Who ever was and did as now, in the 
Expression of His will and character." 

But how conceive Him three, I asked, unless 
It be as Infinites, three Gods? To which 
He thus replied : 

"Man is a trinity in one — 
A body, mind and spirit. So the brain — 
Reason, memory and imagination one. 



A POEM— CANTO I 19 

So God, the source of law, the Go-between 

The law and penalty in man's behalf, 

And Immanence that links the finite to 

The Infinite in steadfast loyalty. 

Man needs to look to Him as threefold in 

Efficiency, conveyed in threefoldness 

Of mode. So would the Infinite assist 

The finite toward a comprehension of 

Himself. Three Gods implies three minds; and this 

That they have separate thoughts and wills and deeds. 

But all creation has a unity 

Of action, and the selfsame autograph 

Of mind and will, attesting thereby that 

Who made and rules is One ; while, as revealed 

To man, there is the cognizance of three 

In spiritual operation, which 

Is. the whole alphabet of what man knows : 

And finite mind must have a finite bound. 

Since one, they must alike be infinite, 

Acting as different lobes of one great brain, 

The vehicle of one sole mind. But this 

Is liking that which has no like, measuring 

An infinite extent with finite span. 

The greatest intellects accept the fact 

As fact without dissecting it; the less 

Would grasp the concept of the Infinite 

And make a manikin of Deity, 

On which to exercise their ignorance. 

Look back to earth and find thy problem there. 

What knew a polyp of thy attributes ? 

Its difficulty and thy own were twins. 

To it thou wert a being infinite — 



20 MANSOX'S riSION 

Matter in relative infinity. 

With life and its implied activities ; 

Mind with imagination that creates ; 

Reason that tests the currency of thought, 

With Memory as an archive of the past, 

And Spirit spreading pinions to explore 

Infinity; all tenanted within 

The selfsame space. How it had tottered in 

Approaching thee, and sunk at last beneath 

The burden of attempt ! But greater is 

The distance twixt the Infinite and thee. 

Hence why thy totter and thy sinking in 

Attempt. Now, in the stress and cramp of thy 

Perplexity, know this: the circle of 

Infinity no finite mind can square ; 

Nor diverse worlds are gauged by selfsame rules 

Of measurement. Spirit and matter have 

Their separate laws, differing in their range 

Of possibilities, and each requires 

Its own specific alphabet, to be 

Its vehicle of thought and fact. Spirit 

In matter finds but faint analogies, 

So limited the compass of its laws. 

Wert thou pure spirit, thou mightst understand 

Where Cherubim and Seraphim come short. 

But in thy ignorance thou reachest up 

As might the polyp reach toward thee, in vain 

Attempt to grasp what lies beyond thee. Those, 

With natures on the highest finite peak, 

See not the mystery's heart whose throb they feel. 

Still they indulge no questionings, to make 

A ripple on the surface of their peace." 



A POEM— CANTO I 21 

That said, I ventured thus : Thy words imply 
That Infinite was pent in finite space; 
To which he condescended this reply : 

"As Infinite He fills infinity, 
And being such. He infinitely does. 
Earth is the fraction of a fraction of 
His universe, but all man's universe, 
Who thinks himself monopolizing- the 
Attention of the Infinite. But though 
He condescends to man's estate, and in 
Epiphany made known His character, 
He so was manifested in all worlds, 
In guise of their inhabitants, to have 
Them, in the spectrum of His mind, blent as 
A varihued and yet harmonious whole ; 
And one eternal method operates. 
Hence He is manifested now in worlds 
Beyond thy count ; and so, as worlds decay, 
Dissolve, reintegrate in other forms, 
In the activities of endless change, 
He will reveal Himself in finity ; 
Insentients govern by dynamic law, 
The lower sentients by impulsive, and 
The higher orders by volitional." 

That said, he paused as if to give me time 
For thought, when came a sense of blissfulness. 
And I was calmed upon a sea of splendor. 
Silence was as the spirit of a sound 
That had a haunting sweetness of its own, 
And peace fell on my spirit softly as 
A fleck of moonlight on a drowsy flower, 
Or as the sunshine of a pleasant dream. 
Was that the gate to endless paradise? 



CANTO II 



CANTO II 

A change — earthward or hellward I surmised. 

It was descent to an inferior sphere, 

And ended in antithesis from light 

To darkness, dense as a cloud dropt on 

Us in extinguishment of everything 

Save consciousness, retaining which was as 

A mockery, the awful silence an 

Obsession, or a mourner dumb at 

The funeral of a world. At first it seemed 

As though existence might be ended with 

A gasp, while I had not ability 

To give the gasp. I felt, but saw not, my 

Attendant's presence. Lacking that, I could 

Have wished myself dissolved to nothingness ; 

For nothing seemed there but myself and he, 

Shut in a sepulchre of loneliness. 

Moments had kinship to eternity ; 

And while I wondered whether they would end, 

The gleaming of a lurid light appeared. 

Moving like serpents having fiery eyes ; 

And as they slid, accentuating more 

The darkness, one by one they coiled themselves 

In lettered shapes, of import greater than 

When lightning fingers wrote a nation's doom 

Amid old Babylonia's revelry. 

Too awful were the words for speech of earth. 

Immovable and dumb with horror, I 

Beheld for period seeming long enough 



26 MAX SON'S riSION 

To sweep the circuit of the dial face 

Of time, then turned imploringly toward him 

Beside me for relief, when thus he spake: 

"What here thou seest is the typic pall 
That finally shall wrap this blasted orb. 
With those dread characters its epitaph. 
No resurrecting trump shall then be heard, 
To thrill its vanished glories into life ; 
Nor sinless ones desire to see its form, 
Since this envelopment of darkness is 
An indication of the frown of God. 
None e'er will pay the tribute of a tear. 
Nor even night winds moan its requiem, 
But all avoid it with a shudder, as 
A spot of all the universe accursed." 

As thus he spake a crawling horror stole 
About me, with a snaky coldness, till 
I fain had shrieked and fled. But more I feared 
To hear myself in such a solitude ; 
And fixed I was as at the center of 
A world, bound by enfettering gravity. 
Knowing my trepidation, he withdrew 
To where the mitigated darkness was 
As the enswathment of a fog when chill 
November hugs a northern isle, and gave 
A modicum of ease, at which I dared 
To speak. Oh ! where and what, I asked, the cause 
Of this superlative of horror, this 
Unhealing sore upon the universe? 
Surely the infinitely Good not so 
Defaces His own work. Yet who in His 
Despite ? 



A POEM— CANTO II 27 

"This world," said he, "was more than fair; 
A diamond sparkling in the crown of space, 
Peopled by beings in material garb, 
Exceeding man in scope of attribute. 
To whom the Infinite vouchsafed to be 
Upon their level in a perfect life; 
Which being emulous to imitate, 
He then withdrew His manifested form 
And made them wards of an angelic host, 
With one of archangelic rank as head, 
Who, as their tutors, prompted them to a 
Development of all their powers, until 
They reached a semi-angelhood, and so 
Were fitting for disrobement of the flesh — 
The garb of being — to expand their powers 
With unentrammeled freedom, and themselves, 
As angels, minister to others in 
A lower sphere. In these conditions was 
A test of fealty in him who held 
The seal of deputized authority, 
Whose greatness proved a great infirmity; 
For after he had recognized and bowed 
As liege before supreme authority. 
He was seduced, by thought sophistical. 
To see himself exalted to a sphere 
Of independency, yet prompted by 
A motive of divine beneficence ; 
And then he reasoned with himself that, as 
Within the bound of his activities 
He was an almoner of blessing, and 
In blessing blest, a wider sphere would yield 
Commensurate results. Then with the cue 



28 M/l\'SON'S IISION 

That lotif^ experience i^ives, and powers whose wing 

Could take a wider sweep, why should those powers 

Be cramped within so limited a sphere? 

Why deaf lo voices of necessity, 

Which came to Fancy's ear like voices in 

A dream ? And why the underleaders and 

Their hosts be yawning in the drowse of half 

Activity? Such was the treacherous thought, 

When Ainplifer — than whom no greater is 

Beneath the Jntinite — was sent to check 

The foreseen mental veer, that, thus forewarned, 

The deed might bear the penalty of law 

Yet leave the culprit dumb. Obeying with 

A loyal promptitude, the greater one 

Disclosed himself appropriately, and thus 

Addressed the less : 

"■Hail, mighty Lucifer! 
Thou art deemed worthy of a mighty trust ; 
A trust that sheds a luster on thy name. 
Since long administered in faithfulness. 
I would but aim at equal faithfulness, 
To crown my future as thy past is crowned. 
Affinity of interests makes us one 
In bonds of umifying sympathy, 

And blends our thoughts like light from different orbs. 
So be our thoughts now blended in tliscourse. 
As known to all the higher powers, there is 
An Infinite ; and being infinite, 
Too great He is for finite eye to see 
Or mind to comprehend ; whose will is law, 
An omnipresent potency, by which 
He is engirding and sustaining all 



A POEM— CANTO 11 29. 

Existences, incorporate in His mind 

As one. And hence one mind, plan, movement, as 

The beating of a central heart, throbs, thrills 

Through all, and, by responsive action of 

The parts, preserves the blissful status of 

The whole. Thus is necessitated due 

Conformity to law of every part 

In its relation to the whole. We who 

Are diademmed with highest attributes 

Of being, and exalted to a sphere 

Of glorious and tremendous power, sustain 

Our glory as we thus conform; for should 

We fail, 'twere as the wrenching of two suns 

From out their measured orbits, hurling them, 

By our centrifugal recalcitrance. 

To spheres oppugnant to the general weal; 

So making all oppugnant to ourselves.' 

"Here Lucifer replied : 

" "Most worthy peer. 
His will whom we have served Is law in a 
Generic, ours in a specific sphere ; 
His to assign, and ours to act within 
The sphere. Our power implies the right to use. 
The sole condition that we use it well. 
And he possessing must determine how, 
Since his the consequence. Whose motives aim 
At good must please the Good.' 

Thus Amplifer: 

" 'Thy motives unrelated to His law 
Were worthy of thyself. But we have no 
Such independency. And should the law's 
Demands be flagrantly ignored, the brand 



^o M ANSON'S 11 SIGN 

Of treason vvcm-c across their brow. As known 
J)y thee, existence has (hversity, 
To j^ive composite j^randeur to the whole ; 
While sameness were monotonous to Him 
Whose hand has made, whose eye is over all. 
Hence every part is needful to the whole, 
And serves its purpose as it tits its place. 
Ours is the honor of a lofty sphere 
With corresponding- power. Yet is that ix>wer 
liut delej^ated, by the use of which 
To serve I lis purpose whom we represent; 
That purpose inkled in the sphere assigned. 
There the subordinate must reverence the 
Supreme, else we contemn, and so conflict, 
Bravingf results; while, by example, we 
Sugj^est to others as ourselves perform, 
Breedinji' rank anarchy.' 

"Here Lucifer, 
Arouseil as from a lethargy, replied: 

" "I ba\c a mind and will, \\1iy, but to use 
In the full scope of their capacity. 
Without the priMuptini;- that a novice needs? 
I think, then plan ; 1 will, then act. my mind 
My iH>wcr, my will my law, within my sphere. 
Where I am inlinite unto myself, 
Acknowledi^iui^ no bounds that limit my 
Activity. In this my nature but 
Asserts its right to be my highest self; 
\\'liich lie can but approve who wills me well.' 

'■ '1 le who best wills thee bids thee tlo His will 
But in this bold assertion of thyself, 
In mind and will, thou takest no account 



A POEM-CANTO II 31 

Of His, but makest thine supreme ; which course 
Is arrogant disloyalty, while this 
Thy argument were no less plausible 
In every mouth. But should it mold all lives — 
Think the results, if thou hast mind enough, 
And shudder at the thought. O Lucifer! 
Beware. Beware of thoughts that are not born 
Of loyalty, or they will grow and grow 
And bear a deadly progeny. Though great, 
Our greatness is the gift of Him who bids 
Us serve, and unto whom, as King, we owe 
Allegiance, lacking which we are undone.' 

"The warning fell upon a barren ear. 
Finding no rootage in the mind and will ; 
For as with man whose predetermined course 
Is masked with plausibility, whate'er 
His aim, so fair of countenance he saw 
The mental monster that was cheating him. 
True, he made pause in acting, but no pause 
In his resolve — pause to consider how 
To act, and to confirm himself in his 
Resolve. And while he paused, delusion crept 
Insidiously, with cleepening darkness, o'er 
His mind, as shadows o'er the couch of Night. 
Then Amplifer again was sent, to cut 
His pride with words of keener edge, and leave 
Him more excuseless in persistency, 
When thus in controversy they engaged : 

"Amplifer. 'Hail, mighty Lucifer! I come again, 
The Infinite to serve and thee to save.' 

"Lucifer. 'vSave me ujxjn whose nature is impressed 
Eternity's imperishable seal? 



32 MAN SON'S 11 SIGN 

Save me who am not perishing, and am 
A savior great as tluni ? I take thy words 
As levity that underestimates 
The due of rank.' 

".-1. 'Imperishable. So 

Thou art ; a fact that is the gilding- of 
A fact — the greater fact, that being is 
Not all, nor yet the best of life, which thy 
Ambition to attain a higher sphere 
Admits. Nor may thy present be the worst 
Of life ; a fact whose voice demands a pause. 
And neither deafness nor a sensitive 
Resentment can procure immunity 
If disregarding His authority 
Whose power sustains the universal frame — 
His will the universal law — but that 
To brave by breaking this, will bring 
A wreck of consequences on the head. 
From which can never be escape.' 

"L. Tower that 

Could hold the worlds as grains of sand upon 
Its pahn were limited to action on 
Material entities; hence cannot with 
Annihilation's breath blow out the blaze 
Of consciousness, nor stop the play 
Of mental force that generates my thought. 
Thus in my nature I am greater than 
Omnipotence.' 

"A. 'Ah, Lucifer! In that 

Thy greatness is thy peril, tempting to 
Presumptuous confidence. .Vnil should it fall. 
Its fall will be with heaviest weight and down 



A POEM— CANTO II 33 

To deepest depth. Nor mayst thou shove aside 
The fact that, while the physical must fail 
To touch the thouj^i'lit and deaden consciousness^ 
It girts the thinker with conditions that 
Afifect them both.' 

"L. 'Will is the final power 

That wields the power, and as His nature is 
The will to wield. Then since His nature is 
Benevolent, He can but will to have 
What is work out its possibilities 
In harmony with law's benevolence.' 

"A. 'Jjut who shall guarantee the harmony, 
Shouild all minds act in independency? 
E'en thine and mine are in oppugnancy. 
And shouldst thou canvass in thy own domain. 
Would every mind be acting as thine own ? 
If so, they need not thine to prompt, and so 
Thou art a superfluity. If not, 
A unit of supremacy is a 
Necessity, or chaos would prevail. 
But infinitely greater is it where 
An infinite complexity obtains. 
What, then, are we to aim beyond the sphere 
Assigned, and god it o'er the Infinite?' 

"L. 'Thy words are caustic with unfriendliness. 
And tend to force me to extremities 
Of speech.' 

"A. 'Nay, say not so. The friend is he 
Who shows thy foot the precipice before. 
I . warn thee of extremity of state, 
In which eternity will still preserve 
Its seal, but not assure thy state.' 



.U .1/./.V.V().V.V /7.S7().Y 

"L. 'I wouUl 

Nt>t simit Iho l";u-o o\' thy intcMit. while yet 
I ileoin tliy words as feathovs in tlio vviml. 
Adieu !' 

"So |>arted they. Then Lueifer 
Movetl to aiul fro, as one in thouj^ht immersed. 
And as he mm'ed spake thus, half auilihly : 
'Great l.uoiter! so qreal that other i^reat 
Ones how to thee. Nor s^feater Amplifer. 
Then why this exaltation of thy peer 
Vo aet as thy ailmonisher? Perhaps 
Hy incitatit)n of a readier zeal. 
Moviui; him to a promptitude to seize 
.\n t>piHirtuiiity thou letlest lie 
Still dormant in disuetude. Ov has 
lie. hy U>ni;" praetiee iti suhreption. so 
Himself ohtriuled on attention as 
To i;aiu the ooutideiiee and smile oi llim 
We serve? (.)r is that One eaprieious in 
Mis reeoi;nition of ouv serviee? He 
The reason what it may. thou uceiiest not 
TroloUi; oondilions that consiL;u tliy powers 
To lani;uish in ignohle littleness, 
Compaied with what 1 see aehievahle 
In sphere and action. I lad he such a zeal. 
Or such assertiveness, why mayst not thou, 
l>\ doiuL; what will mai^iiify thyself? 
(.^r has the kuler sueh capriee. why not 
Thou independently assume what lie 
I'an hut approve, if hy their ipiality 
lie tests our deeds, anil in au^nuMitiui;- of 
Thv hliss add so mueh unto I lis, who finds 



A I'OliM— CANTO I! 35 

Tt in the synchronism of ail liearts? 

But should lie (lisa])])rove? Tut, tut! Jiy a 

Necessity of nature He can but 

Approve. And yet wlio l<nows the limit of 

A possibility? But who would shrink 

To face the shadow of the ix)ssiblc? 

Not iiiij^hty Lucifer.' 

"So reasoned he 
Whose will was toyin^j with the fair rleccit, 
Not recognizing Amplifer as more 
Than peer, since thus accommodated to 
J I is lower sphere. Again the deputy 
Appeared as mouthpiece of the Jnlinite, 
And thus renewed discourse : 

"Amplifer. '(jreat Lucifer! 

I come again, assuming that the calm 
Succeeding our debate was genial in 
Its influence on thy afterthought; since theme 
So great, and action so momentous, must 
Have magnified to lliy conceptitjn that 
Involved. Thy si>eech had plausibility, 
As though it were a ])rrjrile of the truth, 
lint plausibility is that which makes 
J deception fair of countenance, without 
Which honest natures could not be deceived. 
I'.nl (inite wisdom knows its ignorance, 
As real greatness knows its littleness, 
And hence its fallibility ; and in 
That consicousness full oft it modestly 
Reviews, revises and reverses what 
The judgment prematurely had pronounced; 
While little minds kncjw not their littleness, 



36 MANSOX'S flSlOX' 

Hence think themselves infalhble. Hut thou 
Art ^reat onoui^h ,aiul hast the couraqo, to 
Declare thy second thought a step beyond 
Thy first; 

"Lucifer. 'There is a super-g^reatness which, 
Matured its thought, disdains to vacillate. 
Such greatness credit thou to Lucifer.' 

'\l. 'True greatness lends an oar when Wisdom 
speaks.' 

"L. 'And it determitics whether Wisdom speaks.' 

"A. 'Who wishes well for thee deserves thy ear.' 

"L. 'None wishes better than I wish myself.' 

"A. 'Rut is not ITe. the Ruler of us all, 
The fount of wisdom and the source of weal?' 

"L. 'My Reason takes her vessel to the fount, 
And when she brings it full I question not.' 

"./. It nia> bo full, though filled not at the fount. 
Of whioli I warn thee to beware ; to do 
Which 1 am sent by Him who knows thy thought.' 

"L. 'None better knows my thought than I, hence- 
not 
Amnhor's knowledge trust T as my own. 
Which is not misted with dubiety.' 

"-■/. 'Reware. C"* l.ueifer. beware! Beware 
Lest Ruii\ open wide his mouth and gulp 
Thee with a smack." 

"L. 'Beware thou lest I have 

Derogatory thoughts of thee, and trust 
Myself the more.' 

"Then Amplifer withdrew 
And left him adamantine in resolve, 
^^'hon daringly ho fashioned thus his thoughts : 



A I'OliM—CAN'K) II 37 

" 'Speaks he or speaks he not the mind of Him 
We deem the Infinite? If yes, then thou, 
O mighty Lucifer! hast this as the 
Reward of thy benevolent intent : 
Thy equal is commissioned to convey 
Implied rebuke. This comes of being frank 
In thought and speech, in which 1 mirror that 
Within. Ah! that within? Then that within 
DisjjJcases. Motives that arc pure as light, 
And aspirations that would gem the crown 
Of gods, displease. And why displease? I'ecause 
Of quality? If .so, less worthiness 
Would please, and thou art worthier than the One 
Displeased. Or if not that displea.ses Him, 
Thy person is the object of offense, 
because of meager homage to the Power 
That is displeased to have thee cherish those 
The purest motives and the noblest aims. 
Admit this possible, the Infinite 
In thought a finite is in fact, anrl in 
His moral character inferior to 
Thyself; which granted, we by nature are 
Antagonistic in our sympathies, 
Which bids thee act in independency. 
i)r speaks he not with due authority. 
In fear that I attain preeminence? 
If .so, thy equal then presumes to arch 
Dictatorship, officious insolence. 
That, in its ignorance or headiness, 
Fancies its thoughts and feelings duplicate 
The Infinite's. liut be it which it may. 
To aim at good is good ; and as thy love 



^"^ 



.i/.iv\t).v*\ rislox 



(^i i^oocl. so he tin aim .is woithy oi 
riiy powers; as woithy. toi\ thy ihhL;«.MU'0. 
lUit why this coiUrovorsy with thyself 
in \aoillatiu_i; iiulotormiiKMioo? 
This tossinj; ot thy thoiis;h(s this way aiul that 
Is an miwoithincss in one so m"oal. 
Thy thoii_i;hi iiooils oncfji'izini; into iloi\l : 
For worthy to be tluni^ht is worthy to 
I'o ilono. and worthy to ho ilono tloiuamls 
The tloint; ami t'orhids dola\ . More, tlien. thou hast 
Ineontivo to liosp.Ueli. This host, which acts 
Kosponsive to thy will, ticcils hut the word 
That i^uarantees the deed.' 

"So thiukiui;. he 
Hel.iyevl not the assontblitti;' of the hosts. 
W'lu^ waiteil in array to hoar their chief, 
h'roiu whom expect iui; h>it iusiructioti .is 
His wont, when thus he i^avo half moot to his 
lX\si>;ns : 

■■ "luimortal pi^teut.ites and jH>wers! 
^"oul■ natures, to honew^lenco inclined. 
I'uut hliss in hlessius; less exalted ones, 
\\ ho hitherto have readily received 
An^l heuetited tn \our uunistrios. 
\\ luch once oni^.is^od the utmost of your |xwvors. 
\\ ith tueinory"s eye ye see a greater t.'^ne 
\\ lu^ tohed lliniself with m.itter in the i^inso 
t^f these to whom we minister ; in which 
He i^ave an ideal luttern of the life 
Whoso cvpyinvi would exalt their natiues till 
Phe i^lory oi the spirit life shottUl shine 
Within. Millomuums to millenni\uus linked 



/ roiM (,iNi<> II 



3P 



I lave ioniii'd a cliaiii <il liahil llial lia:.- IkhiikI 

'I'lu'ir rliaractcrs in i ii'lilcnii'.iic','. .d fa-. I, 

' )iii lask of sciviiif^ llicm Ix-cnmcs a nine 

Moiioloiiy of roiilinc, saiiiclv as 

'llic Iwiiiklirif.^ of a slat. 'I'liiis we arc left 

Willi lllic\|)cii(|c<l clicif^v, lo wliicli 

I'.xiciil we miss llic end of lifiii^',, and 

Siislain a conscfincnt suhtiaclioii from 

< )ni Miss, while olIiciM lose llic scrvlci* we 

Mij.di( rcndci-, willi ils linon, 'llic (iical Mn-u-cn 

I'.clilsc lias lliis ill mind, v''l wails |(» have 

( 's l;il<c llic liiiil ol ( irciimslanccs as 

r.clillclh oiii siihliiiic intclli);ciicc ; 

l""or smcly hfiiif^s ^j^ical as we, willi Mfljijo 

ICxpcrictirc wliispcriiif^' commcndalioiis in 

( )iir mciiiorv's car, lie woiiM no! have deniean 

I licmsclvcs as a<lol('sceiil novices 

Who need I lis prompliti); cic we move. No, jait 
The shackles of oiir semi doiniaiK y 
Must now he (linif, inio llie wasle-lieap of 
The past, and henceforth new activili<'s 
Va\\^;\\^v onv minds, new j^lories (Ktwn oin loils; 
So shall we serve ourselves in serving Mini. 
And well yonr service iiieiils Mis reward, 
As lon;.^ e.Kperienee fits yon lo rcicive 

II in a wider s|>here (d action, which 

Will j^ive expansion to yonr straitened powers. 
O'er this my mind has had a hroodinj; care, 
AimI has the piiipo'.c formed, with method half 
Maimed; for whose miioldment let y«)tir minds 
I'repare. I'liit it hecomes not now to hririj.^ 
The formiiijj; fashion of my plans hefoic 



40 



MIX SOX'S rislox 



\o\\[- mitui riuMi wait in palirtu-o until I'omcs 

I'llC Oppol llUU- DVT.ISUMI to ItH'ClVr 

ll 111 lis lull (lc\ rlopiiu'iil. .IS soiMi 
Vo shall; 

"S(> vMUlioiisly iiuii'limlr 
I I is woiils, (lirii iimsus|h\(iii;', iniiuls wi'ir lott 
To stii'h vonjiH-lincs ol" llio vhaiij^o tlosii^ticd 
As lualvlxMl thrmsolvt's in i^iiilolrssnoss. ami \\\,\dc 
V\u'\\\ 111 toi ariiiiicsv-ouv-c in ailvanoo; 
Which I'avotin^ ptcjmhoc was wliit \\c SiMii^hi. 
To siccr his craft hv it as with a lu-liu. 
In this astnic itisiiliousnoss was tin cat 
iM wlial iiu;;lil t'lhl in ircrcanv-r, m which 
l''nicii;cncc iiahiivM was »lcpuU"»l to 
(.\>nvcv the cantivMi ol the Intinitc. 
Aihl iliwaii ihr K\hln 's irll attiMnpt. With i^lail 
(, VIciily his ptcscncc he ilisdoscvl. 
In clonds stilTnsovl with his irtjuliani sheen. 
Tow. 11(1 whiv'h the ln>sts in nn»ltitudinons 
Artav assenihlevl. while the Ic.tvlcr kept 
Apart, itwisihie atul silettt. with 
.•\ ihihions ilijCtiitN. expectini; what 
Mij»ht vlcsvHM.Ui" his r.u , All cos .ittent. 
I le sp.ilvc them thus : 

" ■ 1 l.ul. lo\ .ll ones ' \ e w ell 
ll.oe hoiiu^ NvMirsclvcs tow.uil him vonr ihiel. 
In woithy Kwalty revolving; in 
\ I omul ol" SCI vice whose aMtCvMil.nicc h.nl 
An .icfion tint w.is as a sinsiile miiul 
In play. So have ye recv^j^nijteil the l.o\ 
Ot" nnitN A\u\ onler. atul insnrcil 
The smile v>t llim who is above vis all. 



./ I'oi'M ( .INK) II ,]/ 

This law it is llial l>imK Hie woiM, in ;rii 

Idciilily of iiilcrcsls as a whole, 

I'loiii Ihc iiiiiiiilc',! liviii)', thill); on to 

I he glory pics(;i)(i' ol the liiliiiilc, 

Who, lil<(; the central atom ol an oi h, 

Attract', IIhiii lowaMJ I Inn', ill, d (•;!( h Ihioiii-h each 

( )heyH the cciilral I'owt r. In tlii.s your splicic 

A race looks ii|j, and Ihroiij'h yoiit serves yoiir ChicJ, 

And 'ill throiijdi liiiii tin- Inlinile; sf> ye 

With them, and all with you, that One Siipicme. 

This fact niust hold us fast in loyally; 

Scrvinjif, we do it tlnoiifji MihordinatCH, 

Duty'n perHpcclivc hcin^ Him Supreme, 

Shotilfj e'er subordinate conlemn this law, 

(N(j <jdds tJK! motive sponsoi loi the deed^. 

The act would he < cnti ifnl^■|l in its 

l''fTecl, a nifjral disl'jcation ol 

(limself, and place him in anta^'oiiism In 

'I Ik- universe. Then loyalty would hec<I 

'Ihc claims of law, passinj' him hy as made 

A suicidal nullity, and do 

The Will Supri'iiH'i in sayinj; wlii' h I hut 

Remi/i«| you of th.- l<nown. Y'-t, in tli<- fond 

Security of imsiispectinj^ /eal, 

Your innoc<*nce may neerl that I July have 

ll'T iii'itlof, hill iii, lied for your eye, wliil'- a 

True memory iterate'., the truth ye loiow, 

Lest ye, forj.M-tful, trust a hnit«- prop 

As iiifh-pendent of the Inlinile. 

Continue, then, in loyalty to Ilim 

From whom we all receive our all, and •■.werve 

Not should the hij^hest finite make mi. fake _ 



42 M ANSON'S riSION 

As finite may — and counsel otherwise.' 

"That said, a mental chaos raged throughout 
The host, some secretly demurring to 
The implication of his words ; some in 
The agitation of uncertainty ; 
While others drank them as a draught of truth. 
P'or in the higher orders, as with men. 
There are no duplicates of intellect 
And will. A waning of his glory then 
Began, as twilight on a summer eve. 
And he returned, his mission so fulfilled." 



CANTO II I J 



CAN'K) III 

"As man rcnKmiljcrs iiol liis orij^Mii, 

So Lucifer knew only lliat ])(: was. 

Nor knew lie all tliat linily implied, 

Which, Ihoiij^h hori/<»iii(| ir, his view, was slill 

Iw>rcvcr rcacliinj^' iiil'/ a Ix yoiMl. 

And less he knew of (jorl's infiMily, 

Since <jnly innnite can comprehend 

The Infinite. Hence, when his attitude 

Was .shown as questionin/^' his loyalty, 

lie i^aused upon decision's fateful brink 

Ere launching forth lo unseen flcstiny. 

Of Amplifer, as twixt himself and the 

Unseen, he thfjiit^Iit hut as a peer Cwas he 

Indeed a representative, i>i which 

lie liad the affeclation of a donhtj 

Inferring thence tiiat hiit a peer would test 

His prowess in hostility, except 

That Gabriel mij^lit oppose, who was rif> more 

Than secondary in his thouj^ht ; and so 

lie minimized the Infinite, anrl in 

An insane estimate of stren>.(tli assumed 

An inflependence and ]>r(;rf>^a(ive 

Belonj^inj^ solely to the Infinite. 

Moreover, Memory kejjf her fin;/er on 

I'lie pledge, to fail in which would be to own 

A fault, and weakness in submitting to 

Jmjilied rebuke from one a doubtful peer; 

To which humiliation he had not 



40 ;i/./.V.S-().V.V IISION 

The suppleness oi will to heiiil. Phonecforth 

lie ihifted from the oquat\>rial litie 

Of loyalty to zones of wantonness. 

And not himself alone, but all the hosts 

He took in the emlirace of his designs. 

So slowly antl iiisidii>usly were these 

Transitions made, they stole as autunni haze 

Across the broad cerulean of his mind, 

Until he felt enihoUlened to address 

Them all. to blot out riahriel's words, and then 

I'juiiesh them in his own ilisloyalty, 

To which he i;ave a more euphonious name; 

A name that was as cataract on the eye. 

With this intent he siunmoned them to meet 

As tribes, their leaders at their heail. who were 

L^pon a hii^her plane of being than 

The led, having a greater breailth and strength 

Cf mind, which titteil them to think for and 

Suggest, to animate auil guide who were 

Ctf kiiulreil aptitudes, while nearer in 

Their natures to the race whose ministers 

They were. The unanimity of their 

Response was as the action of one mind 

Moving one set of motors at its prompt. 

Belial, with autocratic consciousness. 

Was there, ermined as 'twere with light, his task 

To i>rompt their minds to whom he ministered 

To walk in grooves of contluct parallel 

W ith universal law. r>acchus was there, 

.Around whose person flickered glints that played 

Like light on water; his to guide who made 

1 mat: inat ion's wilderness their home. 



A I -OHM C.Wro III 47 

Inciting to persistent onwardness 

Toward ideal possibilities. Mammon 

Was there, liis visage having- eagerness 

Of look, and on his person such a sheen 

It seemed to cMng like a close-fitting robe; 

His mission to interpret matter as 

It symlx)lized the imseen verities. 

And Moloch, too, was there, bright anreoied, 

And with effulgence haloing his brow, 

As coronating with divinity. 

His was to be a mediating link 

Twixt earth and heaven ; one hand on those he scrvcrl, 

The other reaching tfjward the Infinite. 

And all subordinates were there, to hear 

The word cjf him o'er all the hosts supreme. 

These were too multitudinous to count 

Or even estimate, their lineaments 

In likeness with diversity, but all 

Expressing the submissive readiness 

Of loyalty to serve. Assembled all, 

Their Chief stood in imposing attitude 

Upon a mount on which the Day first laid 

Its consecrating hand. His majesty 

Was as a sun's amid its satellites, 

Although eclipsed in condescension to 

Their nature's feebleness. Now he would snare 

Them with deceptive speech, aiul thus he lfjop(;d 

The meshes of his guile: 

" 'Ye loyal ones 
Whom I have trusted long, am trusting still, 
And led in service that has been your bliss, 
That loyalty anrl service are my prifle, 



48 .i/./.v.s"().v.v rislox 

Ami 1 would i^hully ;ulvortiso thciii to 

A thousand worlds, to make them emulous. 

Naught now need blight our mutual confidence, 

Nor shall with my consent, connivance — nay, 

W'itlunit my utmost effort to prevent. 

Your ears have heard insinuated what 

No bluff audacity wouKl dare assert. 

To prejudice the glory of my past. 

Beware ye of insinuations, which 

Are but assassin darts that Cowardice 

From hiding throws at what it fears to face. 

lielike a great one spake ; for only such 

Would have presumed on his offense. But judge 

Ye which deserves the greater confidence — 

He who has earned it or the one unknown. 

It were comparing everything with naught. 

What have 1 said, what done, or you designed 

To justifv his Ih^UI otliciiuisness? 

Ouv motives are the parents of our deeds 

Ami give then) character. What, then, are his? 

Their character I would not scrutinize. 

lli.>^ dignity of station would forbid 

Suspicion of his envying our long 

Success and bliss. Yet to conceive aught else 

Baffles my ingenuity. Surely. 

It is impossible for him to fear 

The augmentation of your powers, which my 

Supreme desire is to enlarge. Can it 

Be possible that he has deputized 

Himself to serve the One Supreme, anil made 

Mistake of what wcnild please? If so. that may 

Account for his unseemliness of speech. 



.'1 I'OI-.M CANTO III 49 

And yet cxtcnualclh not the fault 

Of his oblique aspersion of myself, 

The double edge of which aspersion cuts 

As keenly at yourselves (no whit the less 

For being thrust with unctious compliment) 

As though you could he dupes of artifice. 

Such misapprehension on his part woidd 

Excuse a disregard (jn ours — nay, would 

Demand rebufiF by our indifference. 

Then if my word is w(;rthy of your ears, 

My rule commanding still your confidence. 

While innocent yourselves from all offense, 

Resent ye his officiousness. f say, 

Resent it with vehement loyalty. 

Resent it as you value future peace. 

Resent it as you hojic for greater bliss. 

As for myself, 1 shall but snuff at it 

In sheer contempt, and trust your future as 

I have your past. He spake of law. Cjf law! 

Fitness for service is the soul of law. 

Granting the service worthy of your powers, 

(And it would diadem so many gods), 

I am prepared to lead you to a goal 

Of such attainment as will glorify 

Those powers in an extended s])hcre; a sphere 

That gives benevolence more godlike scope. 

And blesses others as it glorifies 

Yourselves. Or were it possible for us 

To fail in that 1 contemplate, you still 

Would be your present selves, with nothing lost 

Of power or bliss — nay, with enhancement of 

Your bliss; for an attempt at good brings half 



50 M.IXSOX'S nsiON 

The blessing- of success. If, then, for such 
Attempt we are agreed, speak ye in words 
That are the echo of your hearts.' 

"He ceased, 
When came an outburst of applause whose din 
Was louder than the roar when mad winds lash 
Earth's deep, and as the yeasty aftcrswell 
Prolonged. The pivot of their destiny 
Was in that hour, and as their will should point 
That destiny would be. Then Bacchus made 
Himself the mouthpiece for his host, stretching 
To an unwouteil height, and with a pose 
That enipliasi/.ed his dignity became 
To every watching eye and waiting ear 
The point of gravity, when silence thus 
He brake : 

" 'Most mighty Chief, and compeers in 
Benevolent employ, we know ourselves — 
Out natures, aptitudes autl powers — as none 
Besides can know ; the grandeur of our aims. 
And purity of motive in those aims. 
The worthiness of which noetls no attest 
And seal to verify our consciusness. 
H an Authority there be of whom 
The universe attests benevolence. 
He can but smile upon benevolent 
Activity wherever exercised. 
Then since to such benevolence our Chief 
Directs, his counsel must be still our guide; 
In following- which, as past experience proves. 
Our duty and our interest lies. Therefore 
His will is all 1 wish to know, that I 



./ roHM CANTO III SI 

M;iy follow whitluT lie will lead, to faif 
In which would prove a lack of eonfidence 
Willi iiaup^ht to justify the lack.' 

"lie ceased, 
When Moloch forward strode, as one who bent 
P>eneath the burden of his thouji^hts, and thus : 
" 'Bacchus enrobes a truth in fitting words. 
We have a leader who has led Ufi well". 
To whom naufi;ht tempts us to be recreant. 
We may believe there is a I'ower unseen, 
Of presence undefinahle, which in 
The visible must he expressed, to make 

His person real unto consciousness. 

Hence is our Leader made Vice liiliiiite. 
Whose words are preg'nant with the livinj.^ thouj^dit 
Of Him he represents ; in servinj^ whom 
The boon of all our past has been enjoyed, 

And through whom l)lessings have perfumed their lives 
To whom we minister ; all which demands 

Unfailing- fealty.' 

'"riien MaiiiniDii lliiis: 

'I can but second that already said. 

What being, niggard to himself, would turn 

A blind eye to his opportunities? 

To do it were to coulraveiie the law 

That is a moral gravitating force. 

Drawing the inert to activity 

In aspiration and in effort. Such 

Comports not with our nature or desire. 

From positive to the superlative. 

These are steps above which Nature stands 

In an inviting attitude, and it 



52 MANSON'S VISION 

Is ours to mount, with ready foot, without 

Deterrance by the dubious voice of one 

Unknown. Our leader leads us well. 

Then trust his counsel and his reasoning. 

Ask, Why is matter so compounded and 

Arranged? Why light and heat, except to serve 

As ministers to life? And why the gross 

And inert substances, if not to be 

As corner-stones on which the higher forms 

May rest? These tell us, by analogy, 

That in this higher realm our being is 

Designed for mission that shall match its powers. 

Conclude, then, that our Chief's authority 

Accords with law, and with His will whom we 

Have thought of as Supreme, and bid adieu 

To quillets, seeking no authority 

But his, who aims to make our future crown 

Our past.' 

"Here Belial, with impatience in 
His glittering eye, spake in impulsive haste: 

" 'Authority ! authority is will ; 
And having righteous will, we have the right 
Authority. In that our Chief and we 
Are one. It is not worth the breath of our 
Debate whether in One is vested power 
To rule the worlds ; whether an atom moves 
Or can be moved without a lever, and 
Omnipotence upon the lever's end. 
We are as gods unto ourselves within 
Our sphere, and as we fill the measure of 
That sphere must all who comprehend applaud; 
And more when we expand and fill it well; 



A POEM— CANTO III 53 

Such is my mind without prolonged debate.' 

"Then Silence drew her mantle o'er the scene, 
As all in expectation waited for 

Their Chief to make his broach. But he made pause 
To have them in deliberative mood, 
Ready, like birdlings with an open mouth, 
To catch and then digest his words, and by 
Assimilation of his thought be one 
In his designs. For clearly could be seen 
That many minds were turbulent with thoughts 
Demurral to his own. These, he believed. 
By dulciness of sophistry, might be 
Inveigled into acquiescence; hence, 
As supplemental to his words, he waxed 
In person more imposing, with the sheen 
Of an ethereal splendor such as made 
Their shining dim. Then with a gravity 
Of tone and gesture thus : 

"'Imperial powers! 
It gladdens me to have your open ear 
And fill it with my commendation of 
Your godly zeal in godly work. That zeal 
And your achievements prove capacity 
To aid the weaker in a wider sphere, 
While duty bids you fill the measure of 
Capacity; for 'twere unworthy of 
Yourselves, your great and growing powers, to have 
Their growth exceed their use, not only those 
Neglecting whom we ought to aid, but so 
Subtracting from our possible of bliss. 
He whom we recognize as the Supreme 
Has stampt approval on your work, and so 



54 MAN SON'S l' I SIGN 

By implication sanctioned what, as His 

Sole representative. I now propose. 

And I, who know of your activities, 

Have noted well your worthiness, of which 

Yourselves have honest consciousness. Now, on 

The testimony of this trinity 

Of witnesses, ye leave the ordeal of 

Experiment with all your powers equipt. 

In fitness for extended enterprise. 

Since both the fitness and fidelity 

.-Vre yours — which your beneficence of rule 

With its resultant benefits has proved — 

Ye may commendabl)- assume the right 

To do according- to ability. 

Reflect and see that what 1 say is true. 

Naught is without some purpose as its goal ; 

And as its being does that purpose rise 

In dignity. Hence must the purpose of 

Your being match your powers, v^-hich, being those 

Of gods, declare your sphere of action, by 

This law, a godlike sphere ; a sphere that knows 

No bound but the periphery of the 

Attainable. My worthy object is 

To lead you out to that periphery ; 

In which attempt I all adventure for 

Your sakes, your bliss the fount of mine. But halt ! 

Why thus contend I for prerogative 

That the Incomprehensible cannot 

Deny? Nay, perfect in the attributes 

That fit a God, He can but smile upon 

The impulse that impels us to reflect 

Those attributes in voluntarv deeds. 



,4 POEM—CANTO III 55 

This to deny would be rank insolence, 

Assumption of a higher moral sense 

Than He the ideal of the universe. 

Then from His character infer His will. 

And now behold the pageant of the worlds 

Revolving in their silent majesty, 

Which in the little routine of our toil 

Have been so nearly nothings in our thought, 

While here has been the center of our care. 

In what a grand superiority 

A few outrank the rest, indicative 

Of higher orders of inhabitants. 

To whom experience in this lower sphere 

Has fitted us for higher ministry. 

Or some more needy worlds, of lesser scope, 

May make appeal to our benevolence, 

With such beseeching we may not withstand. 

But that or this we must attempt a more 

Intense activity ; for we have drowsed 

Beside the door of opportunity. 

Ourselves belittling with a low content, 

In limiting the exercise of our 

Transcendent powers when able to expand ; 

As though in lassitude we waited for 

A nudge to cross the threshold of that door, 

When none there was to give the rousing nudge. 

At length has come to me the breath of an 

Appealing influence, wafted sweetly from 

The azure meads, which prompts me to extend 

A sympathetic thought to other orbs ; 

For which an ample reason may be found 

In having perfected our work on this. 



56 MANSON'S VISION 

This merits our rcg'ard ; ay, is the midj^^e 

We waited for so long. Then let us rouse 

Our energies to godlike wakefulness, 

That as in one our powers have been employed, 

To its advantage and our bliss, so in 

Some other worlds our labors may no less 

Result in blessing and rewarding bliss. 

Hear, then, what I propose, which is, that I 

Engage in high emprise, exploring space, 

To find some orl) that needs our ministry; 

Perchance some close-related group, o'er which 

We may preside, where larger duties will 

Expand our powers. The possibilities 

Inviting us exceed the power of thought 

To grasp ; for as eternity rolls on. 

The widening vision that experience gives 

Will show the way to higher altitudes 

Of glory in achievement, since the law 

Of progress is eternal onwardness, 

Whose impetus we feel within, and shall 

Forever feel. But knowing not the mind's 

Expansiveness. we see not now the far 

Circumference of the attainable. 

Which gained, we may be as the One we serve. 

Then with a laudable ambition let 

Our zeal pursue the possible, and prove 

Appreciation of our privilege.' 

"Amid the echoes of a long applause 
His presence he withdrew from sight, as fades 
A star when earth is misty-eyed, in hope 
That a commingling of their thoughts would make 
His words as leaven fermenting in the mass 



A POEM— CANTO III 57 

Of mind. While thus, his monisher appeared, 
To roll the thunders of authority, 
Since trumpet warnings failed to turn aside 
His feet from treason's path ; and thus the clash 
Of words began : 

" 'Great Lucifer! too great 
For Mercy's heart to let thee fall, if words 
May yet avert, T bring a final word 
To be a bar across the path to doom. 
From footstool creatures, with capacity 
To comprehend the will Supreme, up to 
The highest throned intelligences in 
The highest worlds, obedience is their law, 
To break which is the venom-fang of sin. 
For thee to sin, thy sin will be as great 
As thou thyself. Measure thyself, then say, 
That is the sin of Lucifer, and then 
Reflect that as the measure of the sin 
Will be its penalty.' 

"His eye flashed fire 
As he indignantly replied : 

"'Sin! Sin! 
By what authority insultest thou, 
In speaking as to one whose bosom is 
A cesspool of iniquity, whose heart 
Will quake before the shadow of a threat? 
Thy estimate of me is insolence. 
What am I, what my motives, what my deeds. 
That I am thus addressed? My dignity 
Of person ought to be a shield against 
Thy fierce assault. Know thou that Lucifer 
Is much too great to sin. I am my law, 



58 ][.l.\SO\'S IISION 

And that I faithfully obey. If thou 

Woiildst fill a mission worthy of thyself. 

Go to some starling orb and find a worm 

That squirms not as thou wouldst, then talk to it 

Of sin, and shake a world above it as 

A threat ; but treat not Lucifer as one.' 

"In lofty tone came this reply : 

" 'Yea, great 
Thou art beside the less. Rut look thou on 
This orb and gird it with thy span. Suspend 
It from thy finger by a viewless thread. 
And swing it in an orbit that describes 
The dial of eternity. Then see 
The honor when allowed to speak in low 
Humility to Him who dropt it as 
A pebble in the ocean of His works. 
Nay, view thyself as what thou art, and thou 
Wilt measure as a mote before the face 
Of some great sun. Then darest thou to place 
Thyself in posture of offense against 
So groat a Power?" 

"To this he thus replied : 

" '1 do not so. but as a fraction of 
A whole I make the working of my will 
A fraction of responsibility 
For the achievements of the whole, which can 
But be accordant with the Will behind 
The whole. But where are thy credentials that 
Thou monishest with such effrontery? 
I, too, would be admonisher, and speak 
As thou to mo, to fill thy sphere as well.' 

"Then came this ultimatum in reply : 



A FORM— CAN ro III 59 

'Shoiildst thou pursue thy contemplated course, 

Events will tell of my credentials when 

Thou art undone. No lij^htsomc parleyinj^, 

No obfuscating sophistry, will serve 

Thee then. Thou mayest close thine eyes and make 

A downward pluni^e in an abyss ; but they 

Will open then, where naught undoes the done. 

One forward step will take thee o'er a verge, 

And leave thee mangled for eternity. 

Heed, then, my word, or heed it not, it is 

No less His word wlio knows thy inmost thought. 

And has an arrow ready for the bow.' 

"Without formality or further word, 
He left the traitor to decide his course, 
Which, as observed by the Omniscient One, 
Was in defiance of the warning given, 
While there he cogitated and resolved. 
Though not with open contumacy, but 
Enveiled behind will-woven sophistry. 
The shuttle of whose utterances played thus: 

" 'Conditions put my mettle to the test. 
By forcing me to face my real self; 
For here there is no static state between 
Alternatives. Backwards -or forwards is 
The voice of the imperative, and my 
Response will be the voice of Lucifer. 
Backwards is what? Confession to myself 
That I am weak, fearing the unseen force. 
Confession to the hosts that he who leads 
Can vacillate, has erred and is unsafe 
To follow, until they, upon the bench 
Of judgment, have cross-questioned and approved, 



(X) M.INSON'S nslON 

Which were to abdicate authority 

And bo their secondary in esteem. 

That chosen, T should he myself no more, 

iUU a rejected shard of dignity. 

Forii^'ards is what? Ah! if I only knew! 

lUit knowing not. it may be but a screen 

That hides a cipher bugaboo. Shall 1. 

Then, who would dare to face realities, 

Start back from an imaginary naught? 

I heard a voice, a threat. Of whom, or what? 

What better ear has he than 1 to hear 

The One unseen? Or why be trusted with 

A menace to be thwacked above a peer. 

Whose heart itunns the very essence of 

Benevolence ; whose deeds are stars that stud 

A record worthy of a god? Shall T, 

In palpitating hesitancy, stand 

And shiver on decision's brink, when all 

Heroic motives urge me from behind? 

Could 1 look on such poltroonery and say, 

There, that is Lucifer? No. It would be 

None other than an effigy of lies. 

Were there a thousand risks, my word would be, 

Advance I lUU risk is none.' 

"While yet he mused 
The hosts were summoned to the parting ways 
Of destiny, to make eternal choice, 
As rushed before them such a flashing light 
It seemed a meteor flung from out the sling 
Of the Omnipotent, and in its midst. 
As vestured by it, Gabriel stood and spake: 

" Tmmorlal powers! Immortal! Plumb the word. 



A POEM— CANTO J II 6l 

Spread out the pinions of your thoug-ht and sweep 

The ocean-surface of its import, which 

Is shoreless as eternity. What now 

Youi do will have eternity's broad seal 

Of consequence in hlessinjj^ or in curse. 

Think of your whence. Ye are by pleasure of 

His will whose finj^^er pointed out your sphere, 

And by whose providence you have the power 

To will and do. Think of your whither should 

You trust a finite guide, rejecting Him 

On whom your state depends, in doing which 

You brave the prowess of Omnipotence. 

Choose now your destiny. Whose will is fixed 

In loyalty to Him the head of all 

Existences may now have loyalty's 

Reward, by rising to a higher sphere. 

Then stay or follow as I lead the way, 

Obeying finite or the Infinite.' 

"That said, there was a sound as when on earth 
A cyclone in its wrathful arms tears up 
A forest by the roots, and makes the ground 
Quake with the following crash. Such was the din 
Of the commotion as the loyal and 
Disloyal separated, those from these, 
Departing as convoyed by Gabriel to 
The harbor of a higher destiny. 
Then Lucifer, in his astonishment. 
Remained concealed, while gazing on the scene 
As they evanished in the vasty deep. 
The moment was supreme in its demand ; 
For since his sophistries had failed on those, 
Where was assurance of success with these, 



62 MANSOiVS VISION 

Whose minds received the shock of this example? 

That, thought he, which had held could hold them still, 

If plied with promptitude; hence he disclosed 

Himself anew, when all the leaders hailed 

Him with applause, and their subordinates 

Were cheered as when the sun's full glory bursts 

Upon the earth through winter clouds. The guise 

Assumed was such it magnified him in 

Their eye to godlike dignity as thus 

Addressing them : 'Gone. Whither — who can tell. 

Save that they vanished in the boundlessness 

Of space? Gone — credulously trusting in 

The word of one unknown, from certainty 

To an uncertainty, themselves divesting of 

The glory that so long had haloed them, 

Distrusting him through whom their glory came. 

Reflecting on your judgment who remain, 

Pranking themselves as wiser than the wise. 

While acting foolishor than common fools. 

But they have furnished opportunity 

To prove your loyalty ; a loyalty 

That stands tirm as the foot of Fate. Belike 

They are illusioned with the prospect of 

Some special favor from the One unseen ; 

Perchance as eleemosynaries at 

His feet to gain some gracious dole. But soon 

They may be spewing curses on the head 

Of him who lured them into recreance. 

While we have independent monarchy 

O'er worlds that bless our rule.' 

"No time 
Was given for further word before he felt 



A POEM— CANTO III 63 

A quaking of the ground, the atmosphere 

Aquiver, with cyclonic murkiness 

Prognostic of some ill phenomena, 

As though the hand of the Omnipotent 

Might be foreshadowing His wrath. 

All shuddered with premonitory dread ; 

And as they shuddered, every one beheld 

His fellow's countenance, as still and mute 

As Guilt before the Judgment bar. Then came 

A growing tremor, as a palsy of 

The atmosphere, with shivering of the orb. 

As though an agued palm were holding it — 

To which their fears responded with a groan — 

Succeeded by a shock that smote, as 'twere 

A thousand lightnings twisted to a whip 

That the Almighty thwacked in thunder fit 

To split a world, and laid them prone and dumb, 

The leader writhing in discomfiture. 

And ere they dared to take an upward look, 

A blast — as though the worlds had marshaled all 

Their winds to sweep with concentrated force — 

Bore them in its resistless arms, nor left 

A solitary vestige of that host 

Whose proud puissance was but treason's dream. 

Then, in the rushing fury at its heels, 

Was heard, in thundrous tone, the word, DEPART! 

So in the cataclysmic ruin, down — 

Down — down they went in bottomless engulfment. 

There, like a swirl of leaves in autumn woods, 

They all were witherless in impotence, 

With naught to mark duration, which was a 

Monotonous attenuation of 



64 MAN SON'S riSJON 

Existence, twin to nothingness, except 

As they liad power to think and feel ; and this 

They had in an acute degree. So there 

They were, confused as one astray where shines 

Nor sun nor moon in pathless woods, hoping 

For some retreat from the avenging Power 

That soonied to haunt whichever way they looked. 

While thus with them, they on the orh. wlio had 

Not felt the scath that drave the spirits thence, 

Were borne away as finished gems that leave 

The lajMdary's hands, for service in 

A higher sphere. Then the deserted orh, 

In bilious agony, belched fire and smoke, 

And rolled its flaming vomit o'er the plains. 

The oceans were convulsed and lashed the land ; 

And that grew pestilent with deadly fumes, 

When Devastation stampt out every trace 

Of life. Thus was a rentlezvous prepared. 

In which the Infinite would sharpen sin's 

Rebuke. The outcasts meanwhile saw but clouds 

Where erst had been the oriency of hope ; 

And Lucifer, more clearly than they all, 

Saw the humiliation of their state. 

Hence kept himself a while invisible, 

To hide the perturbation that perforce 

Expressed itself as passion-fever in 

A human face. And as the longer he 

Enilured inaction he increasetl in his 

C)ppugnauce uiUo what he deemed the cause 

Responsible for that inaction, and 

At letigth resolved on open conflict with 

The unseen Power that he had erstwhile served; 



A POEM— CANTO III 65 

Inclul<,nni;^ which heroic mutiny 

His nature thus became infcrnaHzed. 

Then he disclosed his presence to the hosts, 

Who greeted him with cold applause, and made 

Mis purpose known. 

" 'Ye loyal powers,' said he, 
'Who dare an independence of the will, 
Conditions that environ us reveal 
These lamentable facts : There is a Power 
Unseen whose nature is opposed to that 
Benevolence so native to ourselves. 
He therefore is opix)sed to us, because 
Of what we are, and would coerce us with 
The utmost rigor of dynamic force. 
But we are past the bounds of His domain. 
And henceforth rest on the decisive fact 
That what we are we shall forever be. 
Therefore be ever in oppugnancy. 
Reflecting on the fact, I have resolved 
To search for some location posited 
In space, in which to have supremacy. 
And whence to operate in grandeur of 
Attempt.' 

"Then burst their rapture as a flood 
And left them flushed with high expectancy, 
When he began a solitary flight 
Into the unhorizoned space, where worlds 
Were glittering countless as the wavelets on 
A moonlit sea, as though a cloud had left 
Creation's face. As in a wilderness 
Of vastness lost, he viewed the scene awhile 
Uncertainly. What Power or Ruler swayed 



W) M.ixso.ws- rislox 

Autliority in each and all? At length 

His eye was drawn to one whose blackness seemed 

A full eclipse, and thitherto he sped. 

And found it was a wiilow in her weeds. 

Passini;- the veil, he viewed the face. Mountains 

There were all hare and scarred and riven, ami vales 

With cooling- lava crusted o'er, and plains 

That stretched awaj' in bleak immensity. 

And caves whose black mouths openeil nuMistrously, 

Where ghosts of wind made melancholy moan; 

And all were dry as some great desert's heart. 

He viewed it not fastidiously, content 

To have it as a stepping-stone from which 

I'o leap beyond, while glad withal to t'uul 

It tenautless ; hence he returned to make 

Report. His presence known, a shout of joy 

Went up. anil all were eager to receive 

His word, when thus he gratiheil their ears: 

"'Degraded potentates and fallen powers! 
Degraded, fallen, did 1 say? Ay. in 
Intent of t'>ne who drave you hither by 
The force of physical pluMUMueua ; 
But who. instead. emioMcd you and freed. 
Severed you are by His obnoxious jxiwer 
I'rom past environment. But selfhood in 
An independent sphere is godhood that 
Can glorify enviroiuuent. even 
To making hell a heaven ; and selfhood still 
Is .yours, wanting but some activity. 
Ihihampered by ignoble servitude. 
To gain an ideal state betitting gods. 
Toward this we now may take initial steps, 
Since 1 have fouMd .in orb mueuanted. 



// I'OI'.M CANIO III 67 

Insiiriiifi^ wluTcncss .us a rciick-zvoiis 

From which to operate. Naiij^ht has it lliat 

Would please a sensuous eye, since darkness wraps 

It as a rohe without, though all is li^ht 

To spirit eye within. Nor any form 

Of life is there, hence naujjht to meet the wants 

Of life. lUiit there is liherty, and scof)e, 

in which Endeavor may ex])an(l her winps, 

And what was meant for l)ane he made a hoon. 

Then let us thither and prepare our luinds 

i''or exercise that suits our difi^nity.' 

"Then flashed o'er every countenance a ray 
Of rapture such as hope mij^dit j^mvc in hell, 
And with the flash a clearing of the sif^ht 
7'hat localized the orh, to which they hied, 
As hy the prompting of one eaf^er will, 
Thanking- the skill of f.ucifer for its 
Discovery, suspecting not that it 
Was purposed by the Infinite to lead 
Them as the harbor-lights the mariner. 
Nor recognized they it as their erstwhile 
Abode, so desolate it was. Rut there 
Was a designed congruity between 
Their nature and the new envirtjument. 
So was it that the orb became a blot 
Upon the scroll of space, a monument 
That tells of law enforced; and as a buoy 
That warns the wary mariner, so is 
It to the spirits as they pass. This is 
The orb, and it was made their rendezvous." 

Thus much di.sclosed, I felt a restlessness 
To leave the accursed vicinage, as one 



68 MANSON'S VISION 

Would flee the hatchery of a plague. This he 

Perceived as reacHly as one perceives 

A frown, and thence withdrew to where we still 

Could see the huge deformity. But while 

We saw, and though defilement, odor-like, 

Still clung to me with pestilent tenacity, 

T felt as when a stuffy atmosphere 

Is left for mountain air. Then I perceived 

That his effulgence had diminished, and 

A quality was lost to me, bringing 

Me nearer the material grossness of 

The earth. To him 'twas as a tarnish from 

The atmosphere ; in me, an influence that 

Debased. Yet not on these concentered I 

My thoughts, which found a stronger magnet in 

The deeds and doom of those revolted ones. 



CANTO IV 



CANTO IV 

The atmosphere that still surrounded us 
Was laden with an exhalation that 
Produced a sympathetic mental gloom, 
As in the flesh a winter rain, my thoughts 
The drip-drop of the mind, when I presumed 
To ask how long they were in that duress. 

"Being unfit for ministry," said he, 
"They had a period measureless, in which 
They wandered to and fro in anxious quest 
Of some less blasted spot upon the orb 
Than first they found, some restful oasis ; 
But all was wrinkled, black, repulsive as 
The skeleton of Death. Then, to escape 
The haunting sense of lonesomeness, they thronged 
Together, when with horror each beheld 
The general change of aspect as his own ; 
For every countenance had lost the beam 
Of bliss that erst had been a tinge of heaven 
Illuminating it, and all its light 
Was hidden by a cloud that gloomed within. 
For greater was the inner change than that 
Without. Released from long activities, 
Their thoughts were born with mental pangs, and 

showed 
The parentage of a rebellious mood. 
The past, the present and the future were 
Dark thunderclouds that met within their minds. 
Smiting their natures with electric force 



72 HANSON'S VISION 

That left black ruin o'er their moral powers. 

Now they exposed the inner working of 

Their nature as, in conscious helplessness, 

They turned resentfully, in mood to smite 

An unseen — what? A power? A person? The 

Two dubious make-believes once looked upon 

As deputies, or One enthroned behind ? 

Behind their scath a wrathful fury raged ; 

Behind the wrath a Will, which must imply 

A person, having vengeful attributes 

And power to execute ; of which they had 

Been advertised, and now were made aware. 

To such conclusion all their reasoning led. 

Then to their minds that Power became their Foe, 

Whose mightiness, as thought their Chief, though 

great, 
Could do no more than what was done, or they 
Had been debarred a refuge on that orb. 
It was, however, as with theirs compared. 
Omnipotent. Was power His only, or 
His dominating, attribute? Since all 
Unknown, as He himself unseen, no shaft 
Had they with which to reach the bosses of 
His mightiness. While wandered thus the Chief 
And followers in a mental labyrinth, 
They fain had gathered from the wreck of their 
Estate enough to simulate the past. 
Yea, they would glorify damnation by 
Their hate of Him its cause; for even the 
Activity of hate might be preferred 
To stagnancy of being that would lie 
In craven passiveness beneath the foot 



A POEM— CANTO IV 73 

Of Power. While thus the led, their leader, hurled 

From starry height of bliss, found hadean depth 

Of woe, where darkness wrapt black thoughts around 

His mind, and evil fouled him with its fumes. 

Where was the gauzy sophistry that had 

So fair a look? Where the puissance that 

Had made him so deific to himself ? 

The braggart speech of independency, 

And all the glory of his leadership? 

All seemed like mocking faces looking in 

At Memory's door and crying out. Ah, ha! 

Thus were the plumes of his pretense torn off 

And flung into the face of those who erst 

Had bowed as to a great infallible. 

In pride's resentment of indignity 

He registered a vow within his heart 

To prove himself unconquered, marshalling 

His powers for such activity as would 

Restore their confidence and minister 

To bliss. But what activity against 

The Power that had already laid him low? 

One less, interrogated so, had cowered. 

Not he, who viewed the obverse aspect of 

Conditions. Thinking godhood wrapt within 

Himself, he mentally soliloquized : 

" 'Whatever else I have or have not, here 
I have monarchic independency, 
And a domain of breadth to satisfy 
A god, with subjects who acknowledge me 
On knees of reverent loyalty ; and I 
Have selfhood's conscious dignity, which is 
The vital element in dignity. What need 



74 M. I \ SOX'S I ISI(>\ 

I more? These nioimtaiiis, plains and caverns, wore 
They hlack as concentrated snioke. or hrie;ht 
Ami oharniinL^ as the Hj^ht in I'eanty's eye, 
W'eie nuMoly items oi enviroiniuM\t 
in wliieli is ni>thii\!; oi the I. My thoiii^hts, 
My inoti\i"s, pn^lH\'^es anil deeds — these are 
The leal 1. And as theii- pniity 
Ami j^jrealness am 1 pine and j^reat. llence in 
Myself is hea\en. ilimii^lt all aromul were hell. 
What reek 1. then, cnvinnuneiu. and hate 
That hnrns with tiny in another's hreast. 
Save to reeiproeate with ijreater hate? 
^^'ere all the wmUls as jewels on His hrow . 
lie still must he uneasy in I lis pride. 
Hut he lie. ilo lie. what and as lie may. 
1 am forever indestrnetihle. 
Aiul should he he i>mnipotent. lie e.m 
Ihit touch my state ami leave me to contend. 
In hold deliance oi Ciinnipotenee ; 
To i.\o w liieli ciiciimsiances prompt : a prompt 
That 1 shall prove myself most prompt to heed; 
For I w ere not myself, in craven ahjectness 
Vo Umxc m\ powers inactive as the dust 
rHMu-ath my feet. I must arouse, assert 
And vindicate myself, and so resent 
The insolence of this nnjnst estate; 
Vov only so can 1 be worthy of 
Myself; and only so can they I lead 
Have their existence tolerahle. and 
ll.ive reason for continncil contidence. 
Ang^ht less involves eternal vassalai^e, 
The verv thoniihi of which wonld vitalize 



.•/ I'OliM—C.lN'ro II' 75 

Insensate matter, bidditijj;- it aroiisc 
To mutiny, and give the bones of Death 
A shock of sensibihty to be 
Resistant. And shall Lucifer do less ; 
Great Lucifer, a god whom lesser gods 
Are proud to serve? No, no! That shall not be. 
While will and mind remain il shall not be. 
While I am still myself it shall nut be. 
And with these mighty hosts it shall not be, 
But demonstration shall be given that we 
Have elements of greatness left that dare 
Resist the tyranny of power. Greatness? 
What greater is than power to will, with mind 
To i>lan and courage to perform such deeds 
As craven natures dare not think of? Such 
Ilast thou, such tiiey who do thy beck and bid. 
Then rouse thee, mighty Lucifer! and ye 
Immortal powers, whose ears are waiting for 
His word. So shall we, and without delay.' 
"So spake he mentally, and as he sj^ake 
He thought his greatness unimpaired, and deemed 
The scourging Power whose hand had laid him low 
As a gone tempest that had spent its force, 
And left its fury lulled to satisfied 
Inaction. Then he made a mirror of 
Himself, and, looking in, imagined he 
Beheld the Infinite, a foe to be 
Opposed. Thenceforth his mind was rolling to 
And fro upon a rushing tide of thought, 
Which bore him ever farther from the course 
Of rectitude, until, in arrogance 
Of will and effort, he arrayed himself 



76 M.ixsoxs risiox 

Against the Infinite. So Amplifer's 

Prophetic words came true in treason's growth. 

Then he aroused, on dreadful purpose bent. 

And, signalHng his followers to attend. 

Disclosed himself in aspect terrible. 

As though a bodied tempest mantled in 

A thundercloud, yet silent as a shadow. 

So he assumed the majesty of an 

Infernal god, as in defiance of 

The Power whose wrath had smitten them, and stood 

Upon a mountain top. rock-like in i)ride. 

As might befit the final of its peak. 

And there he raised the standard of revolt. 

Around which thronged his hosts in circles to 

Its base, and multitudinously thence. 

Rank beyond rank, with ears that hungered for 

The words that yet might vitalize their hopes. 

One hand he slowly raised, and after pause 

That gave a prefatory emphasis 

To what should follow, thus proceeded, in 

A voice that seemed to lash the hving sea 

With hurricane impressiveness : 

" *Ye gods — 
As gods ye are who thus as gods endure 
What would confound, annihilate aught less — 
As victims of His jealousy to whom 
We offered a profusive loyalty. 
How shall I name the deed whose purpose is 
To punish virtue as a fault? or we 
Devise a merited return whose wont 
Has been to cherish godliest thoughts and mold 
Them into deeds? Eternitv woidd be 



A I'OliM—CANIO //• 77 

Too short, too weak the arm of Justice, to 

Avenge the wrong. We can hut meet it with 

A protest of resentment, showing thus 

Our sense of dignity ; a (hgnity 

Inherent, indestructible by place 

Or circumstance ; a dignity withal 

Whose courage is its guard. View mA yourselves 

As fallen, but as risen froiii vassalage 

To freedom: and one hour of freedom has 

More worth than an eternity of bondage. 

Ye who were angels now are gods ; gods, with 

The opportunities that freedom gives 

To prove yourselves. Then show your greatness by 

A firmness that disdains to bend the knee. 

True greatness greatest is when flinching not 

To face the brunt of adverse circumstance. 

Yourselves know well with what benevolent 

Intent your minds were actuated, and 

liecause of which His choler was aroused 

To vent the venom of His wrath on us. 

Thus are we victims of a good intent; 

While He, as enemy of that intent. 

Proves us the friends and Him the enemy 

Of good, and since the enemy of good, 

The enemy of us, compelling to 

An attitude the opposite of His ; 

An attitude that is but self-defen.se. 

Thus are we brought to face the tyranny 

Of power — dynamic force, whose gri]) it is 

That makes Him monarch of material things; 

The one sole prop that despots lean upon. 

Whose vaunting glory is its infamy. 



78 M. IN SON'S r/.V/OiV 

But let not Him who smites exult, nor we 

Who feel despair. His exercise of power 

Invites us to reciprocate. Invites? 

Nay, more — demands ! And our ability 

To make reprisal bars contempt, (^ur state 

Metrays the animus of tyranny. 

And teaches to oppose, ami in the skill 

Of our opposing; prove that stratet^y 

Defeats dynamics in the end. There is 

A small success in liltlo things that has 

Less glory than defeat in great attempt. 

The one conduces to a mean content ; 

The other spurs to ultimate success. 

Be ours the glory of the great attempt. 

In which the lash of our vicissitudes 

Incites to action, and inspires with hope — 

Ay, Hope that lani;hs when l'\)rtune's face is glum. 

As well we may; for verily I lis wrath 

Has reached the utmost boumlary of His power. 

Since worse He willed, but could not as lie would, 

Or He had hindered our discovery and 

Possession of this orb, and kept us in 

The .solitudes of space. Here, then, we lind 

The nadir point of our extremity. 

From whose abysmal depth we may ascend 

And emulate His spirit and His deeds. 

By giving as lie gives — oin- wrath for wrath. 

And havoc vented as He vents on us; 

In which be His the blame, if blame there be, 

Should we depart from what benevolence 

Would prom]>t. lUit deeds the offsiiring of constraint 

Mav be the left hand of benevolence; 



A /'OHM— CANTO 11/ 79 

A protest and defense when evil strikes, * 
And ill be thus the antidote of ill, 
A local evil servinj^ j^'eneral j^ood. 
Then let us recognize the pressure of 
Necessity, and yield to its behests, 
Without the qualnu'sji hesitation that 
Would feel the pulse of deeds for which He is 
Responsible by whom compelled. Our state 
Is in oppup^nance to our nature. So 
Must be our deeds to g-ain our normal state. 
Prepare, then, for ajj^gressive enterprise.' 

"Then came the shock of an ai)plause that shook 
The mountain to its base, and thrilled him like 
A trumpet blast that is a tinj^lin^ fire. 
Silence at Icnj^th restored, he thus resumed : 

" *In past activity we f(nuid oiu" bliss. 
For lack of which we now are languishing'; 
Which fact suggests that we our past renew. 
Hear, then, what I proj)ose : This orb shall be 
Our rendezvous, from which to operate; 
Its face a symbol of the Unseen Power 
That stands across our path ; the sight of it 
A stimulus to meet that Power, and in 
Antagonistic effort thwart His plans, 
If necessary to enforce oiu- own. 
And should we gain not all we seek, in mere 
•Activity will be a goofl reward ; 
For thoughts, desires and efforts outgrowths are 
Of consciousness, and consciousness is that 
Which constitutes the elemental self; 
Hence in their action is the gist of life. 
As erstwhile said, there are inferior worlds 



8o M ANSON'S I'lSION 

Where, in accordance with adaptive law, 

Are lower orders of intellig^ence. 

To which we may give needed ministry. 

Some may be governed by appointed powers. 

And others be in independence of 

Extraneous power, to whom we might be gods. 

Or some may be in newly-fashioned garb; 

Among which may be found some lesser orb, 

To which, our mission filled, we may ascend 

As laudable ambition points the way. 

If wields our Foe authority in all. 

Some may be reached and led to fling aside 

His nde, and so be meshed in riotous 

Entanglement as to frustrate Him in 

His government, and make Him recognize 

Our power, and tolerate us passively. 

But blow the winds as may, I am resolved 

To launch upon the empyrean sea, 

Returning not until I bring report 

Of such discovery as invites to high 

Attempt. Then we shall prove ourselves.' 

"That said, 
A billow of enthusiasm rolled across 
That living sea, and dashed in plaudits at 
His feet. For every one was magnetized 
By his audacity of speech to feel 
An eagerness for venturous emprise. 
Becoming brave of heart. Then, deferrent to 
Their compliment, he bowed and waved his hand, 
To signify his readiness, when came 
An encore in approval, and he left 
As slowly as an exhalation on 



A I'OliM— CANTO IV 8l 

A summer eve, flashing;- the light of his - 

Residuent glory on their vision thrice, 

With quavering vividness, decreasing like 

A meteor's trail, and all stood gazing at 

Its vacuous wake. When gone, they felt a sense 

Of lonesomeness, yet hud an eagerness 

Of hope that viewed such possibilities 

As Fancy throws upon the canvas of 

The mind, and grew elate. When vanished from 

Their view, he poised in hesitation as 

He gazed upon the glittering glories of 

The worlds, then plunged into abysmal depths 

With the uncertainty of one who casts 

A lot invoking partiality 

Of chance, or as Genoa's daring son 

On unknown seas, but chartless, compassless, 

In hope that some among the numberless 

Might hail his advent as they felt him near. 

Still wavering in uncertainty a while, 

He was as one becalmed midsea with not 

A mental breeze to waft his will anrl bear 

Him to his destiny. One orb above 

The rest conspicuous fixed his gaze, to which 

He fain had ventured ; but its glory so 

Repelled him that he felt a blushing sense 

Of Jittleness, and sped to hide himself 

In the immeasurable deep. At length 

He spied another orb, less glorious, still 

Of royal grandeur in effulgence, which 

Approaching, Amplifer appeared as an 

Obstructor in his path. 'What seekest thou,' 

He asked, 'who hast betrayed thy trust ?' Without 



82 HANSON'S VISION 

A word he took a tangeat course, and sped 
As one might try to flee the shadow of 
Himself, to reconnoitre otherwhere. 
Awhile the thought of Amplifer was an 
Obsession coming twixt himself and what 
He sought, with a repellant influence that 
Incited to increasing weariness ; 
And more that every orb was guarded by 
A peer in rank, whose loyalty was his 
Rebuke. Hence he pursued his quest, content 
To find some humbler, if unguarded, orb, 
Impelled by failure to persistency. 
At length some planetary orbs he saw 
Circling around a central source of power, 
The least of which was large enough to fill 
His measure of ambition, which by this 
Had shrunk to match the possibilities." 



CANTO V 



CANTO V 

"Not unobserved were all the motions of 
The fiend — as such he has become — nor was 
The object of his quest unknown, nor yet 
His after-efforts unforeseen, with their 
Concatenation of results, to which 
Was offered no impediment by Him 
Who could have cleft the largest world and slapt 
Him at the center in imprisonment. 
Behind this tolerance was an infinite 
Onreach of purpose, all inscrutable 
To man, who sees the leaden dawning of 
Events, but not the golden sunset of 
Results, which prove the evil valet to 
The good : of which in ignorance the fiend 
Kept up his quest persistently, without 
Suspecting a surveillance, till he reached 
An orb but newly brought from out the mist 
Of a chaotic night, teeming with types 
Of life upon its lowest levels, while 
In lavishment supplied with every means 
Adapted to a higher type. The orb 
Was beautiful, though small as beautiful, 
Adorned with variegated verdure — hills 
Where scented breezes gamboled playfully ; 
Valleys where silence dreamed in sweet repose; 
Streams that were arteries flush with liquid life, 
And seas that nightly murmured lullabies — • 
In harmony that seemed to indicate 



86 M.tNSON'S JISION 

The purpose of creative miiul. He paused, 

And viewing it with quering^ wonder, thus 

Indulged in a soHloquy : 'Oh. fair ! 

Ay, equisitely fair — a jewel to 

The eye! Whence? Had the unseen elements 

A virile potency to gender it 

In chaos, or some intellectual l^ower 

Conceived and fashioned it to please His eye? 

Is it complete, or but a skeleton 

Of what is planned, for occupancy by 

Some higher, yet unfinish.ed, type of life? 

Or model for some more stupendous worlds? 

If product of an intellectual Power, 

Is he in independence as a god ? 

Uut how could less produce this godlike work? 

Enough, llowe'er it came, or whence, or who 

Its maker or the purpose in His mind. 

It offers to reward my quest. Be it 

Untenanted by worthier orders, we 

May occupy it as our rendezvous. 

From which to prosecute our worthy aims. 

Or should T find a race in embryo. 

Upon a more exalted plane, I may 

Devcl(~tp it to match the ideals of 

Our own benevolence. Hut should I meet 

With an obstructing force, in questioning 

Of my prerogative, that may compel 

A conflict of decisive import to 

Myself and all the loyal hosts, by whose 

Attritions we may burnish all our powers, 

.\nd fit ourselves for more extended rule. 

Tut ! whv see shadow where no sidistance is ; 



.■•/ I'ORM—CANTil r 87 

Intcrroj^atc the earless and await 
An answer from the tont^uclcss void? Here is 
A couch where Peace rcch'ncs herself, not an 
Arena for the clash of strife. Ay, and 
The very almosi)here is shnnhrous with 
Tranquillity. I must inveslit:;^ale.' 

"At once he soared to a conti.quous mount, 
To view the varied scene, still hesitant. 
Should he remain inactive, i;l suspense 
Waiting and watching for developments, 
Or pry at once into conditions, and 
From them interpret Fortune's horoscope? 
To wait would he to court a weariness 
Indefinite. But that he would not hrook; 
For action was the watchword in his mind. 
So then along meridian lines he went, 
As space by measiu-cmonl is known to man, 
With searching eye, since less familiar yet 
With matter as on earth coni])osc(l than mind 
And spirit, and intent withal to learn 
The utmost of the orb. At length he spied 
A spot, the fairest gem where all was fair, 
Where Silence and the Dew were twins, on whose 
Calm bosom Night and Peace reposed till Day 
Awoke a dreaming world to dancing life. 
There was the birthplace of four liberal streams 
That bore luxuriance in the frucUious hands. 
The ground was phuiiey with an emerald sward, 
Save where umbrageous clumps of fruited trees 
Spread out their hands to catch the mellowing heat; 
Their fruit so rich in tempting lusciousness 
Me could have longed to have a sensuous taste. 



88 M ANSON'S FISION 

Amid the rest was one conspicuous most, 

Whose fruit contained the quintessence of life, 

So he who ate thereof should never die. 

And still another, fairest to the eye, 

Whose tasted fruit would fatal knowlcds^e give. 

b'riskins; in happy waulonnoss among- 

The mazy groves, or with a sumnolent 

("ontcul cropping" tlic verdant glolie. were groups 

Of divers creatures in unfoarfulness ; 

On which he looked as hut the overflow 

Of a deep-channeled efllnence of life. 

Existent or designed ; for such profuse 

Purveyance evidenced a coming need. 

Leading to these conditions tliere had been 

Successive stages of development. 

Ere time was known by solar measurements. 

Then days were steps in the creative work 

Until the tropic earth was teeming with 

Gigantic creatures battened on the lush 

Luxuriance, whose lavishment was in 

Anticipation of the earth's old age. 

This done, the atmosphere, the sea, tlie land, 

Were modified to suit a godlier type 

Of life, and man appeared, invested witli 

A dominant authority ; and then 

The Sabbath of the Inlinite began — 

The work complete as fashioned in His mind — 

Symbolic of the rest that man would need. 

*Mid the rcjx^scful quiet of the scene 

Came Satan, cautiously, and as a hawk 

Above tl'.e unsus]>ecting cjuarry lay 

He on the air. when he beheld, embowered. 



// I 'OHM CANlil V 89 

A hcinp;' worthy (<» !)<■ m<m.'iicli of 

The rest; of form crrcl, his eye. ;i}^low 

With spiritual liii-, the iiulrx of a soul. 

I lis person was commaiidinf;' to the eye, 

I lis nature so ahove the rest that all 

Looked up to him as lo Ihcir hc-ad, and he 

Was happy to he reco.i^'iiizcd as snch. 

I'"or Me who fashioned him prononnccd him pood, 

Since like, as of, llimself in allrihute. 

As lluTc the Arch i''oe paused, he (pieried thus 

Within himself: 'Whence? how? for what? Whence? 

ask 
The wind its whence. 'Twill answer soon as he, 
With ecpial certainty. lUit this is clear: 
Nauf^ht is hut hy orip;-inalinj^ power, 
A greater than, and a jireceder of, 
Itself, f'or less brinpi's not a ^^reater than 
Itself, nor equal more than nndliplies 
The life that it received. Ilcncc iu- is by 
A {greater than himself, an almoner 
Of life with intellect and will; and this 
Imin'es a super-intellect and will ; 
And these a personality, who has 
A pm-pose and a plan. Hoiv came he thus? 
i'y exercise of will and intellect 
And i)ower hy Mini the linal cause. I'orwhat? 
I would the factors of the problem were 
Tn sipht. Instead, there is a row of naughts, 
In dumb uimieaninf^ifness, and 1 must prope 
Alonjj^ the dark meanderinj^s of surmi.se. 
Is he the mentor of the lower ones, 
To bless himself by their development? 



90 M.-}\SON'S IISION 

Or the initial of a tociniii<;- race 
Provided for in (his rodmidancy? 
And will tliov follow as this loader came, 
( )r he he reiirodiiclixe on and on? 
Ts he in independence, or in honds 
To homag"e the orij^inatinp^ Power?* 

"These questions thoui^ht, he ventured an approach, 
To mark the operations of the mind — 
Its moods and tendencies of thought — and thence 
Demark the scope of its capacity ; 
The inclinations and the stren^jth of flesh; 
Its hclndike power tt) act upon the Will 
And give his deeds their moral character. 
Nor at range it was that, in his ignorance. 
The Ailversary queried thus, since rouml 
This (Mie his future nught revolve, and tuark 
The record of eternal destiny ; 
The one who geruKHl the potency of all 
The world's unfolded mightiness. Egypt 
And Babylon, and Greece and Rome, with all 
The buds and fruitage of millenniums to 
The end, were there. And a precosity 
Of genius that commanded speech and the 
Distinctive attributes of all that breathed, 
liuparted an initial impetus 
To progress that should ever thrill the nerves 
Of Time. Albeit there was in his heart 
A vacuuiu naught beneath himself could till. 
His inner self was in a solitude. 
Where not a thought could answer to his thought. 
Nor heart beat rymthmically with his own. 
Nor was there yet the nudtiplying^ means 



A rOliM—CAN'I'Ch V 91 

To furnish that for which the earth was formed. 

This inner lonesomencss the hOe perceived 

With an increasinj:^ curiosity, 

And noted every motion of his tiiind, 

The flutter of emotional desire, 

And jjreferential Irend in his ptirsm'ts, 

Until the day was waning and a lint 

Of twilight veiled the scene, and musky dew, 

With moonlight in a silent partnership, 

P'ell softly as a benediction from 

The lips of Peace. Such hours might soothe the flesh 

And nil the brain with waltzing fantasies; 

Hut in the foe they stimulated thought 

To count his time of coming opi)ortune, 

In furnishing an open door, through which 

To pass to roseate possibilities. 

While thus he watched in v-aguc expectancy, 

The lone one sank info unconsciousness. 

Occasioning a new ])er])lexity. 

Did flesh cause weariness of spirit? Was 

The darkness as a mental sedative? 

Or was this anncsthctic influence to 

Prepare for some jjcrfecting touch? While thus 

He f|ueried, lo! a nu)st amazing sight. 

In the evolving of another self 

From him the living yet quiescent form. 

For so had been the Maker's purpose to 

Provide a complemental self, in whom 

Should be the propagative function and 

The less monarchic qualities that make 

The nature lovable, so each to each 

Might be a fond necessity, and form 



92 M.-1NS0N'S riSlON 

Of Iwain ono perfect self. Aiul hciu'o, when vSlcep, 
Willi kindly liiii^or. j^ave his senses an 
()hHvial toneh, from out his side a rib 
Prolnided, which (Un'el(>i>ed into form — 
llinisclf in (hiphcate excejH diverse 
Tn sexual attribute — in lovin^- which 
'Twould be himself hv loved, and so would love 
Ilnvt* surest _t;-Uiaranty (for who of all 
Mankind loves not himself?) which had not been 
Mad she been fashioned from the earth direct. 
The simple thus became a complex life, 
l^ossessinj^ l^rocreative potency. 
In which were all the treasures o( a race. 
The fact oi the phenomenon was clear 
To Satan's eye Ihit when he sought the cause. 
And pondered on the mystery of life, 
lie launched upon an ocean of surmise. 
Tile physical evolved another self. 
With individual consciousness and all 
riie attributes of personality. 

Did thoug^ht-force ,q;cncrate the power of Ibouubt ? 
Or did the jihysical itself possess 
The {generative power? l')id spirit- force 
Add spiritual selfhood to the l1esh. 
Or some extraneous power impart 
The spirit element from other source? 
Would such a force forever operate, 
Or spirit reproiluce after its kind? 
Was this diversity of sex desii^ned 
To be a propas^ative imxle by which 
To multiplicate a race as he 
Beheld in lesser forms? lie onlv could 



A r OEM—CANTO. V 93 

Surmise and wait the answer of the yeats," 
Here in presumptuous ignorance I checked 

The i)rop^ress of liis narrative thuswise: 

l"[ow stran,qe that at one boundinj^ step 

Should come a whole, and that of sex diverse. 

Earth's latest thoufi^ht makes life i)roj:^ressive, from 

A protoplasmic germ throujj^h heast to man. 

"Say rather, Earth's most earthy thought, itself 

lUit protoplasmic in relation to 

The facts. Bid these hypothesists inform 

Thee whence the germ ? Evolved it out of naught, ^ 

Making man evoluted nothingness. 

Yet to evolve, perchance, into a god ? 

If naught thus evolutes, will everything, 

With a proclivity to evolute. 

Evolve until infinity of space 

Is crammed with evoluted nothingness? 

Assume that life is by successive steps, 

What is the genesis of consciousness? 

When enters instinct into reason's realm? 

When crossed the brute, and how, the boundary line 

Of immortality? Erom sexless how 

Came unisex, and thence duality, 

On which depended reproductive force? 

Did Eve and Adam separately evolve, 

And by an accidental jolt collide, 

To find themselves adapted each to each 

In complimental sexual potency? 

These questions answered or unanswered, ask 

Why rocks as tombstones tell of lower forms 

While mute concerning hypothetic man — 

The half and almost man — the processes 



94 HANSON'S VISION 

Of whose evolvement called for milHoned years, 

As given in speculation's calendar? 

Name Adam's father. Give his epitaph, 

And tell the why, if genealogies 

Began in Eden. Or if dumb before 

These whys and hows, adjust thine ear to catch 

The voice that speaks for the Infallible. 

Ere earth from chaos rounded into form, 

Man was a purpose of the Infinite 

With all the incidents of being, whose 

Completion was to be the crown of life. 

And as He purposed Me had power to do. 

And did, and lo ! man was — the purpose an 

Initial entity. When? Thy memory tells 

Thee not. How ? Men have stretched a gossamer 

Of guess across the chasms of unnumbered years, 

To find Omnipotence an easy task. 

And thus have thought a thousand miracles 

To save them from acknowledgment of one ! 

Granted the power, the all of liozv was will. 

He willed, and animation moved in dust. 

Man was, with spiritual attributes 

Impregned. Agan He willed, and from the first 

A sexual variant came, endowed with power 

To propagate their like. Hence why there is 

No trace of ladder-steps from brute to man, 

But twixt the two a chasm bottomless; 

On that side instinct and residuent dust; 

Reason on this and deathless consciousness. 

There form and attribute diversified ; 

Here uniformity as fruit upon 

A tree. But turn again thy thought to tread 



A POEM—CANTO^ V 95 

The path we left. When came the blush of dawn, 

The man perceived a change within himself, 

And viewed the woman as another self. 

The Adversary lingered near, and he 

Surmised that some extraneous Power produced 

The strange phenomenon. While gazing still 

In wonderment, as if to ask himself. 

What next ? the sun poured out his glory-flood 

Upon the earth, and drops of light dript through 

Where sat the happy pair embowered. So passed 

The hurrying hours till the equator of 

The day was crossed, when they went wandering forth 

To view the largess of the loaded trees, 

And give direction, here and there, to the 

Luxuriant vines that spread out in the wild 

Abandonment of their vitality. 

Then he beheld approaching One who had 

An enigmatic dignity, at sight 

Of whom the pair were moved with awe, since they 

Intuitively recognized in Him 

A greater than themselves. Was He their God, 

Who stooped to man in this epiphany, 

Or was He deputy? What measure of 

Authority assumed He there? What power 

Was in support of that authority ? 

Around the answers, as a pivot, must 

Revolve, His plans. Till those were known the fiend 

Would be concealed, watching and listening as 

An eavesdropper, as he beheld the pair 

Attent to hear His words, when the august 

One with authority made known His will, 

Which was to be their sole and simple law, 



^6 HANSON'S VISION 

Involving but a willingness to heed. 

The affluence of provision, said He, was 

Beyond the measure of their needs, since all 

The largess of the groves was theirs, save one 

Sole tree, refraining from whose fruit they so 

Would prove regard for His, their Maker's, will, 

And fix the habit of obedience in 

Themselves, insuring so His guidance, with 

Perpetual blessing, but in tasting which 

Their disobedience would be sin, the sting 

Of death, whose poison nothing could extract. 

Hearing, they promised to obey, when He 

Withdrew as by evanishment, and they 

Were left clad only in their innocence, 

Which had the purity of angel robes. 

For not by flesh the spirit was defiled 

Until the spirit first defiled the flesh, 

By making it the instrument of sin. 

The fiend in consternation heard the vow 

That placed a veto on his own designs. 

They were to multiply, replenish, and 

Obey — another; One who claimed the rights 

Of ownership, excluding thus himself 

From all authority. Could he have been 

Observed that thus he was forestalled? The yea 

Or nay of it aflFected not the fact, 

To whose effect he must supinely bow, 

Or meditate on means to nullify. 

That personage. Who, what was he? Or what 

Of prowess did he represent whose words 

Were autocratic in assertiveness. 

His will the all of law ? Whoe'er, whate'er, 



A POEM— CANTO. V 97 

His presence it were prudent to avoid, 
And ply his arts on those who had the key 
Of vea and nay with which to turn the bolt 
Of destiny. These to inveigle and 
Direct the turning of the key would serve 
His purpose. Hence as they meandered in 
Abandonment of bliss, as childhood in 
Its holidays, and converse held in love's 
Vernacular, he watched their every step, 
Heard every word, and noted every thought. 
And when the hindcast shadow of the day, 
With slumbrous folds, enwrapt their weary brain, 
He looked upon them as they lay in sleep's 
Obliviousness unshielded. Yea, he watched 
Them till the forestep of the dawn was on 
The hills, and thought it in his power to wreck 
The earthy tenements and send them forth 
In disembodiment. But better have 
Them multiply and swarm the earth, could he 
And his have rule, since 'twould inaugurate 
The new economy, the object of 
His quest. But still that personage. Could He 
Whose wrath had smitten him and his in their 
Original estate be there? Such power 
He feared to face in open strife. Yet had 
He confidence that subtlety could thwart 
Almightiness, and show its trophies in 
The end. Thus much in fact, while yet he had 
A pseudo bravery of thought that buoyed 
Him up, and by its own attritions grew 
More fiery as he thus soliloquized : 

" 'What, should the same obnoxious One be here? 



98 MANSON'S VISION 

Here, too. is Lucifer, to ruin or 

To rule. Ay, Lucifer the great, who in 

A cahn, confiding hour received the scath 

Of a malignant Power; from which emerged, 

He stands in all the glory of his selfhood. 

And with greatness tmimpaircd. For what 

Ls greater than ability to frame 

Great thoughts, transmuting them to deeds? Such 

thoughts 
Are deeds in embryo; for who begets 
The thoughts can do the deeds. Since matter is 
The tool of mind, it has no element 
Of greatness. Instinct is the gloaming of 
An intellect that waxes not ; while man 
Has an immortal element of mind 
With prospect of a noon. Still he is but 
A mote upon the air, and by a breath 
I may direct his course. Hut angels have 
An independency that dares resist 
The tyramiy of power, though wielded by 
A god. So they ascend into the sphere 
Of gods, and gods that upward look to thee 
As greater than themselves. So great art thou. 
In having mind that thinks for gods ; a mind 
That scorns to own a greater than itself. 
What is the hugeness that employs the tool 
Of matter to display the type of strength 
That is the glory of the brute? The mind 
Is more than matter, thought than strength. Hence 

power 
Of mind to act on mind is greater than 
To hold a thousand universes on 



.•/ PO/IM—C/INTO. V 99 

A fingerli]). Such, in preeminence, 

Is thine. Then super-eminently great 

Art thou, O Lucifer ! Shall greater bow 

To less, or even peer to peer, in dread 

Of a dynamic fist whose shadow falls 

With threatening motions on his path ? Why, shame 

Would put a blistering brand upon the cheek, 

Should an immortal spirit of the least 

Degree allow his higher self to cpiail 

Before it with a craven homage. No 

Such craven is great Lucifer. Thy past, 

Thy present state — nay, independently 

Of state, thy dignity of selfhood would 

Prevent the thought of such servility. 

Only a foe would aim to press thee down 

To such degree of degradation, and 

In injury find incentive still to more 

Humiliate. Thus He has given the gage 

Of His example as authority 

For deeds to which thy nature had demurred. 

Then give thyself no blame while godly as 

The One who claims a godship o'er the gods. 

'Tis by Himself — His thoughts and feelings — that 

He measures thee; hence what He thinks would thee 

Humiliate may Him no less, if aimed 

Aright. Then meet thou Him as foe meets foe. 

Do deeds that have His copy for thy guide. 

Until humiliation proves to have 

A double edge. Though not omnipotent. 

Thou hast the skill to ward His blow, and power 

To strike ; the power of mind, whose keener edge 

May cut its way into the heart of that 



lOO HANSON'S VISION 

At which it aims. Now as thy Foe, by dint 

Of force, vents hate of thee on those who own 

Thy leadership, so let Him feel thy power 

To wreck, if need be, what He holds so dear. 

So shalt thou reach His heart and make Him prove 

Thy greatness, with regret that He presumed 

To take advantage of thy confidence, 

And jilace impediments across the path 

Of thy benevolence. O Lucifer! 

A g'od whom lesser j^ods dclic^ht to serve, 

Who, by their servini^. show the jiower of mind 

To win allep^ience, from the scabbard of 

This opportunity draw out thy sword. 

And strike with all the prowess of resentment!' 

"Such fuel furnished he the fire within. 
When woke the pair to greet the new-born day, 
He meditated how to compass them 
With fair seductions, whose attractive show 
Would make the mask of evil look divine ; 
Toward which encompassment he reasoned thus : 

" 'Experience makes one's wariness alert, 
And is a source of strength in time of test. 
lUit she, devoid of one, the other lacks; 
And as the bud is weaker than the bole, 
So she, of which in proof, how timidly 
She clings to him, as weakness ever clings. 
In her, then, is the vulnerable spot 
Where 1 must ply the subtleties of art. 
Tliere is the wedge with which to cleave my way.' 

"So reasoned he, then studied how to wear 
An unsuspicious guise, concluding to 
Descend below their level, so to seem 



A POEM—CANTO V . i( 

The very pink of harmlessness ; for of 

Necessity approach must be upon 

A lower plane of life than theirs. Wherefore 

He sought the jeweled eye and gracefulness 

That captivate, and after careful search 

Beheld a gliding form whose divers hues 

Were brilliant with the ardent beams of day ; 

Whose contour, movement, eye, might win the heart 

Of unsuspecting innocence; to which. 

With more than ventriloquial skill, he gave 

A spirit potency to exercise 

His attributes. Gliding conspicuously 

Among the grass, with head erect, he slopt 

Contiguous to the tree whose burdened boughs 

Displayed their fruit in mellow lusciousness. 

Then, with more ardent luster in his hues. 

And posture most attractive to the eye. 

He waited, in the hope of her approach. 

The morning air was purity sublimed, 

And redolent of rare perfumes ; while all 

The earth was mantled with a glory-sheen. 

All nature felt a thrill of ecstasy ; 

For the aorta of exultant life 

Had all its throbbing enginery in play. 

Then were creation's king and queen embowered 

Beneath a flowery canopy, each with 

An arm engirt, and toying playfully 

In love's own tender way. So passed three hours 

On sunny wings away, when nature's wants 

Prompted their going forth. Then gathered they 

And ate while carelessly meandering 

To and fro, as unpremeditated 



102 MANSON'S J'lSION 

In their course, and lightsome-hearted, as 

The gaudy wanderer wavering on the wing : 

He in restriction of exuberant growths, 

And cultivation of acquaintance with 

The creatures that had erst afiforded him 

A sole companionship ; she, to explore 

The flowery nooks, and note the various forms 

And texture of the leaves, while listening in 

Entrancement to the underneath of sounds 

That seemed like voices whispering in the trees. 

While thus, the arch foe watched the workings of 

The mind, and rioted an inquisitive 

Desire to pry beneath the surface of 

The seen, and scan life's mysteries hidden in 

Its complex fonns and qualities. There was 

Her strength, which might be made her weakness, by 

Perversion of legitimate desire. 

Meandering still, absorbed in their pursuits, 

They separated each from each a space. 

The foe then used the inhibition as 

A prod to curiosity to feast 

Her eyes upon the fruit forbidden to 

The taste, when, suddenly, she hastened toward 

The place, oblivious of the distance left 

Between herself and spouse, and, standing in 

The dangerous vicinage, she gazed with an 

Enravished eye upon the clustered fruit. 

The eloquence of whose appealing to 

The palate fanned the embers of desire. 

And soon Desire and Caution were at war, 

Her will the only interposing power. 

The foe and victim thus were face to face." 



CANTO VI 



CANTO VI 

A solemn pathos modified his voice, 

Which brought to me a sympathetic mood, 

And made me shudder as I seemed to see 

A world suspended by a sing-le thread 

Twixt heaven and hell ; a thread one hour might break 

Soon ended my suspense as he resumed : 

"Since knowing not the atributes and scope 
Of power in creatures lower than herself, 
She felt no shock when by the serpent thus 
Addressed : 

" 'O crown of loveliness upon 
Creation's brow ! Thy beauty makes complete 
What earth had lacked ; and were thy mind 
As beautiful in knowledge, thou wouldst be 
A god.' 

" 'A god ? What is it to be such ?' 
" 'To have thy powers of mind expand, and in 
A spiritual atmosphere expatiate till, 
With clearer eye, thou seest the quality 
Of thoughts and deeds — the good as beautiful. 
The evil as repulsive — making thus 
Thy inner self the match, or more than match. 
Of this without, raising thy consciousness 
To reach the very sky of happiness.' 
To this she answered with sweet innocence: 

'The vessel of my being now is full. 
And more would be a waste of happiness.' 



io6 MANSON'S IISION 

'Most true. Tt equals thy capacity. 
Which godship would enlarge.' 

" 'Would, then. I had 
The knowledge of a god.' 

" 'That knowledge is 
Within thy ready reach, waiting thy will 
And hand. The fruit of this celestial tree 
Imparts, when eaten, the celestial power, 
Infusing so its subtle qualities 
That they transmute the spiritual self 
Till it enjoys a higher paradise.' 

" 'But He who governs here puts ban upon 
The deed, while giving privilege to eat 
Of all besides, saying that death will come 
With eating of its fruit.' 

" 'What selfish craft ! 
So would He keep you dwarfed, lest ye should rise 
And equal Him in attributes, to share 
What He enjoys, as by the eating of 
This fruit ye would.' 

" 'Pray, what is death ? Something 
That clogs the feet of life and makes the days 
Drag heavily, or draws a cloud athwart 
The sun of every joy?' 

" 'Ay, what is death ? 
A nothing with a name, unreal as 
The shadow of a thought, in whose profound 
Unmeaningness He seeks a hiding place 
For His designs. Thou hast not seen it, heard 
It, felt it, and art but acquainted with 
It as a name, which is the whole of it. 
As unto thee. But 'tis a property 



A POEM— CANTO VI 107 

Of the insensate stuff beneath thy feet;* 

And T will not presume the insolence 

Of proof that au^ht of thee is more, so much 

Is it the texture of thy consciousness. 

A quenchless light is kindled in thee by 

A spiritual torch, glowing with thought. 

Whose effluent splendor glorifies thy life. 

Even the changeful part of thee that has 

A kinship to the elements of earth, 

On which it is dependent for support, « 

Is pregnant with a spirit energy, 

Which by this fruit may so be reinforced 

That thou wilt more ethereal grow. The blade, 

The twig, the flower, develop by an innate force ; 

And so the orders of existence rise. 

From insect level to the plane of gods. 

Even the One who claims the right to reign 

In autocratic isolation and 

Enforce His will as law, was once as I, 

Or even less, as certified by hoar 

Tradition. But the life- force of this fruit, 

Of which He ate, developed so His powers 

That thus He manifests the selfishness 

Of jealousy that dreads a rival, should 

He not monopolize the boon. Therefore 

His ingenuity He strains, to make 

Death seem a monster to your innocent 

Timidity. But wert thou liable 

To meet this monster of the brain, whate'er 

It be — extinction, submerged consciousness, 

Or aught that Fantasy may shape — here is 

Thy remedy.' 



io8 HANSON'S VISION 

" 'In truth, the aspect of 
His person is an index that bespeaks 
A greatness that demands our awe. The how 
He came to have it is not mine to know ; 
But I may not disguise the fact, nor dare 
To cross Him in a Hghtsome way.' 

" 'Thy words 
Do honor to thy nature, while they show 
The lack and need of what this fruit can give. 
Thou lookest so into the face of good 
Thou seest not the ill behind its back ; 
Hence thy imagination stretches far 
Beyond His measure and His potency. 
What thou hast looked on is the all of Plim, 
As what of me thou seest is the all ; 
And all His power o'er thee is in His words, 
Which are but measured quantities of sound. 
While His authority is merely will ; 
An attribute that we with Him possess. 
With equal power to exercise, and right 
Coequal with the power. Ask, what avails 
His will? This tree is not Himself, nor is 
Its nature governed by His will more than 
By ours, the impotence of which needs not 
The proof. Think of this bounty having no 
Utility, or that utility 
Obstructed by the bar of His restraint, 
And void of purpose save to tantalize 
Desire! That were a burlesque on the law 
Of life. Grant it the virtues that He claims, 
(And those I know), why should it waste the boon 
It might dispense, denying knowledge that 



A POEM— CANTO VI 109 

You need to fit for life's emergencies, * 
And save it from a dull monotony ? 
Since good the food, it must be causative 
Of good as its effect, which all His words 
Are powerless to prevent. Hence at His threat 
Thou mayest smile, as I have done ; for once 
I was misinformed, unsightly, dull, until. 
By lucky chance, 1 drew my clumsy length 
This way and found the mellow droppings of 
The superfluity, of which I ate, 
When came elastic litheness to my joints, 
While penetrating light shot to my eyes, 
And every avenue of being flushed 
With intellectual life until, as thou 
Perceivest, I can think, speak, reason as 
Thyself. From double motives I remain 
Within its reach : that, eating more, I may 
To more attain and, in bevolence 
Of soul, its virtues advertise. Shouldst thou, 
Endowed already with a noble form. 
And mind of vaster native scope, partake, 
Thou wouldst, as now impossible, discern 
Both good and evil as a god ; for thou 
Wouldst be a god.' 

" 'Be but a fraction of 
Its properties and powers as thou hast said, 
It is desirable. And great as is 
The Being who forbids, if such the source 
Of that His greatness, from the selfsame source 
May I, who start midway twixt what He was 
And is, obtain a kindred dignity. 
And as for thee — thou art most beautiful 



no MAN SON'S VISION 

To see and apt to speak ; and since, as thou 
Dost hold, the outer and the inner are 
Related quahties, thy speech and thought 
Are beautiful, and such as I would have 
As an adornment of the higher sphere; 
Which thou averest is my privilege.' 

" 'Thy privilege ? Not privilege, but right, 
Which one light motion of thy hand can seize 
And give thee thy desire — desire, which is 
The natural hunger of thy greater self, 
Which must receive this nourishment or starve. 
This makes thy eating a necessity, 
To have the blossom of thy being turn 
To fruit ; while abstinence were murder of 
Thy greater self. Then see thy interest and 
Decide thy course.' 

"She hesitated, with 
An eye of longing on the sun-kissed fruit. 
Not thinking how eternal destinies 
Were balanced on that moment's point. A pause ; 
Then, with a sudden impulse of resolve. 
She raised a disobedient hand and took 
And ate. And so the destinating deed 
Was done; so made the wound whose hurt would 

smart 
Through all the years. Now she believed herself 
Custodian of a talisman whose power 
She would not share alone (herself a god) 
In solitary exaltation, life 
Hemispherically incomplete. Hence would 
She have her heart's right venticle, her spouse, 
Expanded as herself, its left, and so 



A POEM— CANTO VI 

The dual human have cluaHty 

Divine. Then hastily she searched for him, 

And he the fiend was moving with concern 

To find his other self, that, when they met, 

The floodtide of her feelings might o'erflow 

The barriers of his caution and submerge 

Him by her onsweep of enthusiasm 

Into the one disloyalty and doom. 

For all her being seemed athrill to think 

She had the sure transmuting afflatus, 

Or an arousing of the latencies 

That slept within. But when she held to him 

The fatal fruit, his face became the dark 

Reverse of hers, when back instinctively 

He shrank, with more of horror than of blame — 

Horror, in thinking of the deed and the 

Sad consequences threatening at its heels ; 

Excuse in her more tender pliancy, 

Whose yielding was a gentleness of heart 

That could not think of aught less innocent 

Than she. 

" 'Forgettest thou," said he, 'that death 
Is threatened for the deed by Him to whom 
We owe our all?' 

" 'But one who prompted me 
Affirms that death is but a word, for 
Us quite meaningless, a property 
Of the unconscious stuff on which we stand.' 

" 'But should that property be changed and made 
Perverse, perniciously affecting what 
It nourishes, and that in turn ourselves, 
We then should cease to be, or be perverse; 



112 M ANSON'S VISION 

And that were death. But be it what it may, 
It is a threat, and. being that, it must 
Be something ill.' 

" 'Fear not. I find it good 
As it is beautiful. A being fair 
To look upon, and wise, assured me that, 
Instead of death — be that what may — it has 
■A secret power to make us beautiful 
Within as he without. And why not so, 
Since it is beautiful? But since I ate 
And live, and feel an exaltation of 
Myself, eating, thou seest, brings no ill, 
But guarantees fulfillment of his word.' 
"In solemn cogitation mute he stood, 
His mind in vacillation while his tongue 
Was still. Silence he brake at length. 

" 'I see 
Thou livest, and thy life is mine, mine thine. 
One we are ; one we shall remain. 

"That said. 
He took and ate, and after eating asked, 
"What form had he who gave his nay to Him 
From whom we had a limited permit. 
And whose authority we honored with 
Our vow?" 

"To see him was to feast the eye. 
In form attenuated, and in coil 
So graceful, and so beautiful in hue, 
One might have thought that Beauty was his name. 
His head erect was studded with such eyes 
As flamed a wondrous light ; and speech he had 
That trickled sweetlv in the ear." 



A POEM— CANTO VI 113 

- "That is 
The serpent as I gave him name. To learn 
He has the gift of speech amazes me, 
For I had thought him too beneath us for 
Endowment that impHes like intellect. 
And as the more I think the more I feel 
Amazement, while the shadow of a dark 
Presentment comes o'er me, lest behind 
That strange phenomenon a something as 
Unusual lurks." 

"By eating of the fruit. 
As he avers, his nature rose with an 
Enlargement of his faculties, of which 
The power of speech may be a proof." 

"Not in 
Possession of a power its virtue lies, 
But in its use ; and speech withal still leaves 
Him less than we, while we are less than He 
Whose will we pledged to make our law. 
Thus have we disobeyed the greater in 
Obedience to the less ; nor less alone 
Than He, but than ourselves ; and so have we 
Contemned the greater and demeaned ourselves; 
Which gives to us a knowledge — not of good. 
Which we had known, but ill, before unknown, 
And brings the wisdom that arrives too late 
To serve our needs. Should He who placed us here 
Recede not from His word, we are undone. 
Or should He, then His word is nothing worth. 
And we are victims of uncertainty. 
But nothing in my nature dares a doubt 
Of His inexorable purpose to 



114 M.INSON'S VISION 

Maintain the honor of His law. which our 
ContcmninfT^ leaves no cover of excuse 
Beneath whose kindly folds to hide. As thou 
Hast spoken of an outer heauty and 
An inner, as imparted that to this. 
So must an inner opix)site produce 
An outer opposite, and leave us with 
Rxcuseless cause for shame ; and shame I feel 
To have our naked forms expoesd to g^aze 
Of all the meaner creatures ,who must see 
Upon the body traces of the soil 
That disobedience leaves on us within. 
Rut most I blush to think of meeting- Him 
Who can but see us as we see ourselves, 
With even keener penetrating^ eye.' 

'Thine eyes are mine. Our life is forfeited — 
fs under ban — accursed. Hence that of us 
That is the active vehicle of life 
Displays the open face of our offense. 
And keeps before our eye the ]>enalty, 
Makinj;- me blush to have it open to 
The j:^eneral i^aze. in advertisement of 
(^ur shame. lUit Oh! to have Him see us in 
Our naked character! I fear His eye. 
What can we better than conceal what we 
Ourselves have shame to see, and fear to have 
Exposed? Alas! I feel myself beguiled. 
Since thus T trip at life's initial step, 
Taking thee with me in my fall, where shall 
Calamity relent and say. Enough ? 
Who see the end of what is thus begum ?' 

"At once the fountain of her eyes gave forth 



A POEM— CANTO VI 115 

The earth's first tear ; and one with greater cause 

Or keener bitterness has not been since. 

In vain attempt to screen their inner shame, 

They hid their outer nakedness with leaves. 

Thus aproned were they when the Evening laid 

Her soothing hand upon the Day's hot brow, 

And Nature sank into a somber mood. 

So in a sweetly kindred pensiveness 

Had they serenely passed the balmy hours, 

But for forebodings that disquieted 

The mind, keeping it chafed with anxious thoughts. 

Instead, they dumbly looked each other in 

The eye, with inward questionings that shunned 

To show in the habilaments of speech. 

Then came a sound as of a footfall that 

Announced His coming whom they fain would shun, 

When in a leafy covert low they cowered, 

Made too obtuse by their increasing fears 

To see their efiforts weak futility. 

Still onward came the step — the Infinite 

Again in finite guise, and aspect still 

August — and then a voice that seemed itself 

To search them out: Adam, where art thou? Oh! 

The agony of that one moment was 

The stab of a remorse that sent its blade 

Into the very soul. Trembling they came, 

Bowing their heads in pitiful dismay, 

Pleading their modesty, betraying so 

The fatal knowledge that was sin's reward. 

More pitiful became their ])light when, one 

By one, He tore the flimsy fig leaves from 

Their hearts, exposing treason's nakedness. 



ii6 M ANSON'S VISION 

Arraigned by Him whose eye beheld their guilt, 

They both, witii chikllike artlessness, put forth 

The facts in shameful nudity, convinced 

That subterfuge would nought avail. Then came 

A curse, first on the soriient's iicad, as type 

And vehicle of him who had beguiled. 

To thenceforth move no more with dignity, 

But on its belly wriggle in the dust. 

At once a monument and monitor. 

Then was the guilty pair condemned. And still 

To give the turpitude of sin a more 

Enduring emphasis, all living things, 

Both sentient and insentient, with the ground 

Itself, were cursoti ; that whatsoe'er had breath, 

By viciousness, aiul noxious weed and thorn. 

By taxing man to weariness, might be 

A witness to and reprobation of 

Their sin ; so wander where they might, and as 

Their offspring would, the record should be there, 

A warning eloquent though mute. Hence was 

The sentence rigidly enforced — since wrong 

To swerve from what was rightly given — and in 

Their constitution on that fateful day 

Were sown the seeds of sin and death, whose growth 

Would prove a weak inconsistancy of will, 

Inducing character transmissible, 

Accordant with hereditary law. 

As flows a river from its parent springs — 

The self-same river though the channel change. 

Then, to insure the consequences of 

The curse, while Justice took an antidote 

From Mercy's hand, expulsion was decreed. 



A POEM— CANTO VI 117 

That not eternally mip^ht they remain * 

In such enfeeblemciit and under ban, 

By eating' of the tree of life, but be 

Susceptible of chanj^e to life upon 

A higher plane. Hence Cherub guardians led 

To an arena of existence where 

The character would have not only test 

But a development. But as they moved 

With downcast eye, the shadow of the past 

Was all they saw ; and so they drifted forth, 

Poor derelicts upon a darksome sea. 

To an uncertain destiny." 

But what, 
I asked, had been if Adam had not sinned? 

"Theo-anatomists," he said, "have racked 
Their wits in efforts to dissect such ifs, 
Which are but puppets of the Fancy, or 
The mental toys of childish ones. Enough 
To say. He did, and that the doing was 
A foreseen fact, sure as when done, to meet 
Which Mercy's hand was full of balm. So fell 
The race in one, who held in potency 
The whole, hence was in oneness dealt with by 
The Infinite, to whom it was a whole. 
Hence was it one before the bar of law. 
To magnify the justness of the law 
And awfulness of sin, by penalty ; 
While mercy, in the promised seed, should be 
Displayed in equal magnitude, and prove 
That the forgiving love of God was great 
As the generic guilt of man. Hence is 
The individual man, in nuditv 



ii8 HANSON'S VISION 

Of character, before the law. And since 

For individual sin condemned, he can 

But justice brave or mercy plead. The fiend, 

On having gained his evil end, withdrew, 

In fancied secrecy, to where he still 

Could see and hear the drama to its end. 

Believing that the virus of his guile 

Would work his will. And so he heard the curse 

Pronounced upon himself, the pair and earth. 

But nothing recked he for a curse that was 

But as the phantom of an impotent 

Resentment. Curses, said he to himself. 

Are only thunder where no lightning is ; 

Here proving that His wrath exceeds His power, 

Whose animus identifies Him as 

The One who erst obstructed us ; for were 

His power the equal of His will, He had 

Prevented this. So thinking, triumph played 

In every lineament as lightning in 

A cloud, and thrilled his nature till he felt 

That he could brave a thousand curses rolled 

On him like molten spewings from the throat 

Of a volcano, could it burn him as 

It burns the flesh. Yea, he could stand and shake 

The fist of his defiance in its face. 

Hell! He could mock the name, and slake with hate 

The fiercest fury of its flames. So brave 

He felt in thinking of the havoc wrought. 

And that Retaliation wrenched from a 

Resisting hand a due reward. Anon 

He passed into a semi-reasoning mood, 

To shadow forth his horoscope. 'A curse,' 



A POEM— CANTO VI 119 

Said he, 'to be inflicted by the seed 
Of one who is a partner in the curse ! 
The weaker is to overcome the one 
Before whose word the stronger fell ! The joint 
Offender punish the offence ! But on 
The serpent is to be the penalty, 
As though I cared the echo of a laugh 
For that. Or if by hocus-pocus on 
Myself — the Curser has already spent 
Himself, and proof is given that I can force 
A thwack of provocation that will strike 
The way I will. Then welcome such a curse!' 
"So now he was prepared to make report." 



CANTO VII 



CANTO Vll 

"VVlu'ii banished from the garden, conscious of 

His ban whose law ihey liad contemned, the pair 

I^:)oke(l round about them witji despondent eyes, 

As on another and a (hirker world ; 

Which was indeed another unto them, 

Since viewed but in the shadow of the curse; 

A shadow resting*' on and chanf^inj^ them 

As nnich as their environment, which lacked 

The rich redundancy of fruits, and the 

Enchanting beauty of their {garden home; 

E'en richer, loveHer now in memory tiian 

Before. The scant provision made demand 

For p^reater toil, so that the luxury 

( )f life would taste of sweat. The future had 

Hecome a cloudbank on the circlinjj^ rim 

Of life, threatening with storm the years to be. 

And which was worse, the now or that to be, 

Was dread uncertainty, which added fear 

'iV) their remorse. 1'hese — the reviewed, the viewed, 

The feared — were lenses to their introspection. 

Dazed by the sense of guilt and shame, a while 

They stood apart with downward look, silent 

And motionless. At lenj^th he moved into 

The .shadow of a tree and sat against it. 

Slowly she followed to his side and leaned 

Against him for a fond support, when thus 

He brake the silence: 

'Woe the (Wed that brought 



124 HANSON'S VISION 

Us here ! The flower of life has gone and left 

A bitter fruit. I feel the bitterness 

Affecting so my nature that there is 

Corruption to its innermost. My blood 

Hast lost its gladsome thrill. My thoughts are in 

The shadow of the gone. My secret self 

Is blushing to behold itself. And I 

In fancy hear tomorrow's footfall with 

A heavy tread approaching us. Yea, taint 

There is upon my every attribute. 

My very will is in a tumult, tossed 

This way and that with questionings and doubts 

That stir up feelings passionate, by their 

Suggesting that our punishment exceeds 

The measure of our deed's desert, and is 

So far unjust; and since unjust — no, no! 

I shudder at the presence of such thoughts. 

I dare not Him impugn who spake the curse. 

Such thoughts are proof of an unfitness for 

A sinless place ; and since unfit, it is 

But meet that we should be without. 

Lest we pollute it with our touch and breath, 

And mar the happiness of everything 

That has an eye to look on us. But all 

Besides is curst, that spot presumably 

Except, by our expulsion saved. I look 

About me and behold no object but 

Has lost some trace of loveliness, as though 

Defilement rests upon the trees, the flowers. 

The grass — yea, all that once was beautiful. 

I hear the voices of the streams that laughed 

In jocund mood, but now are murmuring with 



A POEM— CANTO VII 125 

A melancholy pensiveness ; and all 

The sounds of sentient and insentient things 

Are souled with sadness, even to the bee 

That labors with her store, and chirping ones 

That irritate the ear of Night. I blush 

To look upon the sinless sky and think 

How all the orbs must blush to look on us. 

The sun has not its former glow of joy, 

The moon can have no more a tranquil smile, 

While all the twinking eyes are wet with tears 

That glisten on their lids. Then what must be 

His countenance whose law we have contemned, 

Provoking this reversal of our state? 

Had we not seen that fairer state, this might 

Be lovely to the eye. But now our sin 

O'ershadows everything — yea, everything. 

Thus everything is a reminder of it. 

But why disturb the slumbers of the gone? 

Ah me ! It has its dreams ; and while we dream 

Dreams are the sole reality, which here 

May be prophetic of reality. 

The future is enveloped in a cloud 

Whose blackness bodes but ill, its frown as dark 

As is the heart of Night, the thought of it 

A darkness of the soul. Heart of my heart ! 

I fear, for thy sake fear — I know not what; 

Something approaching with a fetid breath. 

He by the breaking of whose law has come 

Our scath will visit us, I fear, no more. 

And still again I fear to see His face. 

And have Him look on our unsightliness. 

So am I tossed between this fear and that.' 



126 MANSON'S VIS10<N 

"His words were punctuated with a sigh, 
When she, with tenderness of voice, rephed: 

'We need but fear what has a fearful shape. 
But such indeed has this our state, which is 
No dream from which to wake reHeved. Still, if 
The futore may engage our thoughts, let us 
Recall the promise that our Seed shall bruise 
The serpent's head. What that implies is not 
Within the compass of my thought, but His 
Alone who gave. Yet from the curse infer 
That in the serpent is a foe to us 
And Him who is above us all; and since 
To Him, He will insure the bruise. Will He 
Confound him, take away his power by means 
To us unknown, or drive him from the earth? 
But stay! Our Seed shall be the instrument. 
Shall I bring forth a mightier than our foe ; 
One who can understand and circumvent 
His craft? or one of purer nature than 
Ourselves; so pure that He may enter where 
We are debarred and strike the fatal spot. 
Destroying so his power? Howe'er it be, 
I may believe His promise who performs 
His threat; and that performed, why need we fear?' 

"To this her brighter thought he thus replied : 
'Not only is the promise lustrous with 
A hope, but shaded with a threat. The Seed 
Will merely bruise, not kill, and ours in turn 
Be bruised in heel. That shadows forth the fact 
Of his continued power to hurt, of which. 
Forewarned, we must beware. But here we are 
Beset with new perplexity, having 



A POEM— CANTO VIl 127 

Command to multiply, replenish and 

Subdue the earth, which, by our progeny 

Repeated, will innumerably increase 

The Seed. Will one sole member of the whole 

By nature be invested with the power, 

(^r every member bruise the serpent's head, 

And be in turn heel-bruised, and this go on 

And on in never-ending strife? Will this 

One serpent multiply, so every one 

Of all our progeny will be beset 

By a specific foe, to have his bruise 

By some beguilement, and return the bruise 

With an effect that punishes? Again 

We l6ok into the dark, see nothings, mere 

Imaginary things, and still surmise. 

Be it as may, it is to fill the cup 

Of our desert, and be a consequence 

To one or all. Alas that we, who shared 

Our Ruler's favor in a lavishment 

Of good, should come to this our woeful plight !' 

'I was the first to sin,' said she. 'Be mine 
The greater penitence. I would, indeed, 
That tears might wash away my guilt ; then from 
My eyes should flow the rivers of my grief. 
But tears possess no cleansing quality. 
My tears would be of flesh. My sin is of 
The sold. But my worst pang is this: that not 
Myself alone, but thou, too, art involved 
In these disastrous consequences through 
My listening to the guile of that false tongue.' 

'Nay, take not thou the greater blame who in 
The trustfulness of innocence wert so 



128 MANSON'S VISION 

Beguiled ; for I, since unbeguiled and first 
In knowledge, have the greater guilt. Nor let 
Us feel too heavily the burden of 
Our ban v^hile love is left, for love will give 
A sweet to bitterness. The pressure of 
Our woe will unify our sense of need. 
And bind us in one bond of sympathy — 
Under one burden, one in heart to bear. 
So may some fragmentary joy be drawn 
From out the ruins of our state.' 

'There is 
Already,' she replied, 'a foretaste of 
The joy in this thy passing over my 
So great offense ; for now I feel thy heart 
Beat warmer, and it warms my own ; and while 
We cling together we may bear our ills, 
Made lighter by two shoulders under them. 
Moreover, we may dare the hope that He 
Whose goodness was so lavish ere we sinned, 
And who has made such promise in our Seed, 
Will show His nature in vouchsafing us 
Some lesser good. In lesser things we see 
Relenting signs. Although the earth is cursed, 
To every tiny flower night brings a drop 
Of dew to soothe the scorch of day, and mom 
A smile of sunshine to its heart. Then sure 
His goodness is not lacking one small drop 
And kindly smile for us, though undeserved. 
Hence with the drop and smile from Him ,and love 
In uis, enough is left to give us joy 
That will in measure antidote the curse.' 
"Then with a sigh that had a tinge of smile 



A POEM— CANTO VII 129 

He said : 

'Thy thought awakens thought. Our doom 
Ts death, which we have found. Then death is not 
A ceasing to exist, but change ; and that 
We have — alas, how great! And hfe is what 
Is lost. Thus we are dead from what we were, 
In what we are ; a death in life. Now all 
That breathe and have an eye to see will look 
On us as on these withered leaves, which may 
Be withered by the curse we brought. Yet we 
Have found our worst, which may be borne with more 
Of joy, perhaps, than we conceive ; in which 
Emollient thought I see sustained thy view 
Of mitigation of our punishment 
From what at first we feared. But let us hence 
To gain acquaintance with our new abode.' 

"Then forth they went with timid step, and eye 
Prepared to peer into the dark unknown." 

As he rehearsed the rueful tale I could, 
If in the flesh, have wept until the ducts 
Of pity drained my body dry. Then I 
Presumed to ask, Was not their finity 
An imperfection .imperfection an 
Infirmity, and hence responsible 
For what they did, exonerating them 
From blame? And why had weakness not a shield 
Against an adversary stronger than 
Themselves, and so averted all the scath 
Of sin ? to which he thus replied : 

"In this 
Thy Judgment has a sentimental swoon, 
And needs to gain a normal poise. Naught made 



130 M/INSON'S VISION 

Is blaiiK'vvortliy f(.)i" bcinj^ luadc, nor yd 
For what it is as from the Maker's hand. 
Nor size nor plane of beinj^- constitutes 
Perfection. What completely serves its end 
Of beinjj^ has perfection's touch ; from moth 
To man, from man to anjj^el, aut^el to 
'i'he hij^hest of created things. Hence man 
Was perfect until his abuse of power 
Lessened his ran_L;e of possibilities. 
Disparity in streufi^th is naui;ht. One strong" 
.As all the hosts of hell could only strike 
The keys of sense, or make su_sT^fiesti()ns to 
luisnare the will. Concede a weakness in 
The tempted. All with destinating- will 
iVre strong enough to stand. Their weakness was 
No weaker than is in their progeny, 
Nor stronger then the foe than since. Admit 
The value of the six milleniums of 
h^^xperience. "Pis diviiled twixt the fiend 
And man. Uut thou assumest that his power 
Was irresistible. Call uj) those years 
From out the silence of the past, and let 
Them testify as oracles of fact, 
They will unite to contradict thy thought ; 
For starry souls, in every age, have shone 
Beyonil the clouds when direful tempests raged. 
Bidding defiance to the selfsame foe ; 
And this while trammeled with heredity 
And the defilements of environment. 
I'fom which the lulen life was free; and none 
Now falls but whore some other one has stood. 



A POEM— CANTO VU 131 

Obedience is the test of loyalty ; 

Hence Him they must obey to whom they were 

A cog in the great wheel of His designs. 

Nor less a test could loyalty have asked 

Or wisdom given. He could but lead them as 

They chose to follow, and upraise them with 

The lever of the years as they had will 

Responding to His will. Hence was His law 

The alphabetic test of loyalty. 

No more impartial jury could be found 

Than they ; none with the facts more conversant, 

Who, having once transgressed, were conscious of 

Their fault — by shame and fear of punishment 

Confessed — and so condemned themselves, giving 

Thereby approval of the law they broke. 

Had they endured the test, they so had gained 

In strength. So have the generations made 

Advancement. Hence temptation was and is 

Allowed, and had been vain as beckoning to 

Attract a star had not the shadow of 

Themselves obscured the face of God." 

Since God 
Foresaw their act, with all its onreach of 
Effects, He must have willed whate'cr has been. 
Where, then, the sin in doing what He willed? 
"In crowning man with the elective power, 
He willed the j)ossibility of sin. 
But not in the possession, but the use. 
Of power resides responsibility. God gave, 
Man uses it ; hence man, not God, becomes 
Responsible for good or ill. Power is 
A reservoir of possibilities. 



132 MANSON'S VISION 

Responsibility a stimulus, 

And from the use of power comes power, in fiends 

For ill, angels and men for good. Thus on 

The action of his will man's all depends, 

And in himself there is a judgment seat. 

So is it in the higher court. Men's deeds 

Are measured like themselves — not by their form. 

But by the animating soul within. 



CANTO VIII 



CANTO V II 

So much already learned, my feeling was 
As having tasted the forbidden fruit, 
When my attendant thus again discoursed : 

"When sown the seed, the arch fiend left, sure that 
Its germination would be followed both 
By blossom and the fruit. So back he went 
To seek their plaudits who awaited his 
Return. But ere returning every part 
Of earth was clearly mapped on memory's page. 
He learned withal how works the human mind — 
Its limitations and its scope — enough 
To be a cue in future efforts to 
Beguile the race. So was an impulse given 
To resolution, and a light to hope. 
Meanwhile the hosts awaiting his return 
Felt prisoned in a dreary solitude 
And worn by the continuous chafe of their 
Suspense into impatience at their Chief's delay. 
Naught then had been unwelcome that should give 
Their energies a shock. Let it involve 
An agony of strife resulting in 
More infernality of nature, it 
Would be preferred to stagnancy. Therefore 
They sought activity in thinking of 
Him with a freedom in their thoughts that seemed 
A sequel to the past disloyalty. 
Which fitted them to exercise it now 
To his disparagement who gave the cue; 



136 M/INSON'S VISION 

For beiiiQ- fallen in their nature as 

Their sphere, they httle liarmonized except 

In sin's dread partnership and its results. 

Even each other's presence they endured 

In an unamiable mood, since all 

Inclined to blame their fellows for their state, 

As though by an extraneous influence came 

What they by choice had fashioned for themselves, 

And most their Chief, who by his counsel first, 

And then desertion, locked the door of fate. 

Their leaders recognized this adverse mood. 

With which their own had sympathy, and bade 

The hosts assemble to deliberate on means 

Emollient to this painful exigence. 

Then Belial from the mountain summit spake : 

'Immortal dignities ! we wonder not 
That you have doubts and questionings : whether 
There be a greater than our Chief who has 
111 motives that despise our dignity, 
Delighting in the rigors of our state ; 
Whether the countless orbs have rulers whose 
Ambitions have conspired against us to 
Expulsion from our sphere, and whether we 
Have certain prospect of our Chief's return. 
Conditions are prolific breeders of 
Such questionings, but barren answerers. 
Hence we must lend an ear to catch the voice 
Of Reason's oracle, which answers thus : 
Some power, since doing in defiance of 
His will, is greater than our Chief, who deemed 
Himself the deputy of One supreme, 
Invisible to all beneath Himself, 



A POEM— CANTO VIII 137 

Therefore unknown by direct evidence.* 

There are who claim to be His deputies, 

Who may, in rival jealousy, conspire 

To thwart our Chief's expanding purposes. 

Hurling disaster in eruptive wrath, 

So to maintain their own ascendancy; 

To whom he gave a personality 

In which imagination found a Head. 

But here we stand upon a ciuicksand o: 

Surmise, assuming ignorance in him, 

In which belike we but betray our own. 

Why he delays return we nothing know. 

Save that he entered on a great emprise 

That should redound to our advantage, his 

Success contingent as a cloud upon 

The winds of circumstance, which may have blown 

Adversely to his quest. But in his past 

We may decipher an assurance of 

Return, for never has he failed us in 

Our need. Ay, I consider his delay 

A proof of his persistency, which will 

Not come without a fruitage of his quest ; 

For which in patience we must calmly wait.' 

He ceased, when all was silent as the flight 

Of time. Then Moloch forward stept, and thus, 

In tones of gravity, he spake : 

'This is 
A time that tests the genuineness of faith. 
The strength of patience and the heart of Courage. 
To have an open eye when all is light ; 
To bear the languor of indulgent ease ; 
To brave the danger of a zephyr's wing, 



1.^8 /i/./;\'.sr);V,s risio\ 

Is what c'fTcniinatcs aiul cowards may. 
Hut 1») see lij^Iil beyond the thundercloml ; 

To heat" (lu- famine with a cheeilnl hope; 
To overcome the moiislers of (lie mind; — 
This tries the mcltle of a god. So arc 
We tried, which gives us opportunity 
To prove ouirselves. Attemialed by 
Our inactivity, the time seems long, 

riiongh hut a step iu the eternal march, 
And hut ;i short step with his tasi< compared. 
Go with him on imagination's wing 
Through hitherto untraversed sweeps of space, 
.To worlds unnumbered as these grains of dust. 
Ik'hold him pause with scrutinizing eye. 
To look into the deep arcanum of 
Conditions, non-content till he shall linil 
Knough to fill the measure of our hope. 
Tiien will yom- patience hear the lullaby 
Of Peace, and be embosomed in a sweet 
Repose. While thus you wait the fielil of new 
.Activity, you may be active in 
Devising methods of hostility. 
To serve us should the IVnver opposing erst 
Tursue and be obstructive there.' 

" 'Amen ! 
Said Bacchus, with a smack of emphasis 
That few coidd imitate, acKling: 'The air 
Is laden with hostility, which we 
Inhale and must exhale. Then take tlcep breaths. 
Exhaling it with poisonous qualities 
That purify our natm-e and prepare 
Us for the new activities. This we 



,/ l'()liM--i.\NI() I'll I 139 

Can (l<» vvitlioiU the niopin^^ of delay, 

( )r. ollKTuisc, wlial could we olIuTwIierH-, 

If all our powers be t-ucrvalcd here? 

Hate! hate, if notliinjj;' more. lui]>crsouate 

The Unseen. With Imagination's eye 

Behold Him armed and confident in an 

O'crestimatc of strenj:i;'th.' Then strike with all 

The mip^ht of thou^'ht and feelinjj^, as it were 

To kill. So will our weapons tension for 

The coming strife. The coming-? Nay, 'tis here; 

The thought of which might melt a glacier's heart 

Witli a poetic fire, as mine is now. 

Theti hark ! and toiich your torches to the flaine. 

V\nm a moimtain top I stood 
And saw this orb in widowhood, 
Heside the coffin of the dead, 
With mourner's ashes on its head, 
And I was sad. 

liut soon I had a mighty thrill, 
To feel the freedom of my will ; 
A freedom from the fetters riven; 
A freedom to my godhead given, 
And I was glad. 

I looked beyond the bounds of years 
To the horizoni of the .spheres, 
And from that energizing hour 
I felt an increment of jKJwer 
To what I had. 

If all will strive to emulate 
The force of my aggressive hate, 



I40 MANSON'S VISION 

That hate's impulsion will prevail, 

And in impenetrable mail 
We shall be clad.' 
"Then Mammon took an attitude to speak, 
But paused, as from the cloudy envelope 
He saw ethereal sheen emerge, as it 
Were moonlight oozing from a melting cloud, 
Waxing into a glow effulgent as 
The face of Noon ; when burst a thundrous shout 
As though a hemisphere of clouds had belched 
In unison ; for lo ! their Chief was on the mount. 
Then all were speedily in motion to 
Assume an orderly array ; the Chief 
Upon the highest peak, conspicuous as 
A lofty campanile; Moloch upon 
His right with Mammon by his side, their hosts 
From midfront circling to the rear; Belial 
And Bacchus to the left, their followers in 
The intervening space. From summit to 
The base they thronged, and thence around upon 
The plain, all in a press of eagerness. 
Their thought and feeling suddenly reversed. 
All eyes were now upon their Chief, who felt 
Triumphant pride o'er his success, which lent 
Heroic glamor to his countenance. 
Whose every feature beamed encouragement, 
As gleaming outwardly what glowed within. 
All now assembled and attent, silent 
As football of the languid snow, he thus 
Addressed them : 

'Mighty potentates and powers ! 
Ay, gods, as ye shall prove yourselves. Shall did 



A POEM— CANTO VIII 141 

I say ? I qualify and say, Have proved ; 

Proved by your patience and your constancy, 

Which in due time shall have their due reward; 

For I have come, as Fortune's herald, to 

Proclaim good tidings, though complexioned not 

As I had hoped, since not irenic but 

Heroic exercise will henceforth give 

Your powers employ. In prosecution of 

My quest, success involved persistent toil, 

Expending which I gave no niggard dole, 

But glimpsed conditions in unnumbered worlds, 

Where none held out a hospitable hand 

Until I spied one known as Earth ; small as 

Compared with this, and newly finished in 

Its garniture, evincing dearness to 

Its Ruler's heart, as 'twere a fondling on 

His breast, a precious jewel to His eye. 

Its revolutions bring alternate light 

And shadow known as day and night. It has 

Abounding life, encrowning which is one 

With attributes the miniature of ours. 

Having enswathement in insensate stufif, 

Elaborated from such elements 

As constitute the orb. When Night had thrown 

Her dusky veil athwart the scene, that form 

Became quiescent in unconsciousness. 

And lo ! a most unique phenomenon. 

A procreative complement evolved 

From him, and one was twain. Then, when the day 

Returned, he was renascent and in sweet 

Delight, as though he felt a supplement 

To life. And through the early hours they gazed 



[42 J\1ANS0N'S I'lSJON 

In admiration on each other till 

Their admiration mellowed into love. 

So sped the amorous hours on sunny wings, 

When evening hrought a pensive aftermood, 

And I prepared to captivate their thoughts. 

Hut ere I crossed the threshold of design, 

I saw the form of One approaching who 

Assumed a condescending guise, while yet 

His person had the dignity of stern 

Authority ; concerning whom 1 could 

iUit have surmise upon surmise, all which 

iwajiorated in uncertainty. 

'riien cmiosity grew pregnant with 

Suspicion that His presence hoded ill. 

Why came He at a juncture .so supreme? 

Could Me he representative of llim 

Who wrought our ill, whose enmity would not 

Ahate, hut, inkling my designs, would be 

Obstructive still? Or had some lesser Power 

Prepared this lesser orb, to ornament 

His diadem of skill ? Were He the one 

( )r other, lie who kinged the orh was great 

Enough to give me prudent pause. At His 

Approach the wondering pair demeaned themselves' 

With deferent awe, while hearing llim forbid 

The eating oi a certain fruit on pain 

Of death; to which His threat T gave the lie. 

And led the secondary self to Ming 

The threat into I lis face and take the lirst 

In partnership of deed. So was I more 

A god to tliem than He. He came again 

And read confession in eacli comitenance, 



A POEM— CANTO VIII 143 

At which lie showed a keen cha!L,n-in, aud poured 

Hot curses from the cahh-on of Ills wrath 

Upon my proxy (for a creature was 

A mouthpiece at my prompt) and then upon 

The pair and the unconscious eartli, sweeping 

The whole into a gulf of feehleness, 

Where we may finish what I have begun. 

His curse was aimed obliquely at myself, 

As though He feared to meet me openly. 

Then my suspicion of the One who breathed 

The curse was ratified ; because of its 

Distinctive quality of spirit and 

Vehemence in expression, which was keen 

Enough to thrust its point through adamant, 

As it was aimed to ])ierce me through and through. 

But who He is boots less than what, and of 

The what He leaves us not the vestige of 

A doubt. Grant power that gave the orb its form; 

Own its topography the signet of His will; 

Be lesser creatures puppets for His eye; — 

The crown of all is wrested from His hand, 

And we have that for which the orb exists. 

What then avail His barbs of ill-intent? 

What is His wrath but frenzied impotence? 

Or what His curse but counterfeited jxjwer ? 

Curses are wind that blows itself to death. 

Tiut e'en His curse attenuates itself 

To nothingness — dies like an echo in 

Some future Seed, who is to have more power 

Than its original. Here then we have 

The line of conflict drawn, and so are made 

The foes of One our I''oe, lo meet wbom. and 



144 M.IXSON'S riSION 

To nilc or wreck Mis work aiul leave it a 

Peridot iKil nioiuinieiit of ]-)rowess — iioutjlit 

More lemptinj;- could incite to zeal, aiul iunis;lit 

Give s^reater bliss than such activity, 

To qriiid to powdery ruin what is wrecked; 

I'or which prepare ye to cc>operate 

Without a qualmish hesitancy that 

Would critically scrutiui/.e the deeds 

That are the children of Necessity. 

Conditions have a dictatorial voice 

That we must heed, nor look the means in face. 

Necessity g'ives virtue to the means. 

We have been wroui^ed hy an imperious Power 

That thwarted eiVorts at benevolence; 

To which, in inactivity, we nnist 

Sidimit, and so endure as cravens a 

Superlative of tortm-e damnable. 

(^r by resentment of injustice u^ain 

Immunity and the resumption of 

A worthy sphere. Then after all that we 

Have borne of this ^ross insolence, say ye 

Whether ye wish eternity to snap 

On you the gfyves of this your state, when by 

One effort we can i^ain advantaq'e that 

The hand of rircnmstance is offering- us. 

To make ourselves the masters of om^ fate. 

That crown of earth has corporeity 

(^f earthy stutT. which to the spirit is 

At once encumbrance and necessity — 

Encmnbrance. that it cloiis activity ; 

Necessity, since only through it has 

He cognizance of that witlunit. I'ut we. 



A POEM—C/IN'JO mil I4S 

Despite, can operate within on the 

Essential self, and brin^- it downward by 

Successive steps until the Maker and 

The made are in eternal feud, and so, 

At least, relieve the tedium of our state. 

But who can say what murk may cloud His mind, 

When disappointment blocks tlis every turn? 

Mayhap, in sheer disgust, we shall be left 

In undisputed rule. Then say for what 

You arc prepared.' 

"As there he paused, their eyes 
Had fiery glitter, kindled by resolve 
To have their deeds amen the uttered words. 
No such enthusiasm had ihcy felt before • 
Nor shown such eagerness for high emprise ; 
Nor equal homage to their Chieftain paid. 
And none of all the hosts but felt the fire 
Of his antagonism glow with fiercer (lame. 
Evil then struck its poison deeper in 
Their nature, till they nothing loved, and set 
Themselves the task of cultivating hate ; 
As though in hate would be a base for hope. 
Nor beauty they beheld in aught save as 
Their contrast, mirroring their hideousness; 
So making it an object of their hate. 
And their conception of the Infinite 
Made Him a measureless antagonism, to 
Be hated with a hatred measureless. 
Even their Chief they served less out of love 
Than as the instrument through which they hoped 
Their hate might reach its mark with most efifect. 
Nor he of love or beauty felt or saw I 

10 — 



146 A^ AN SON'S y I SI ON 

In aught so lovable, or so to be 

Admired, as once they were, since from the hand 

Of Him he hated ; hated for the power 

That proved his impotence. His nature, in 

Exceeding theirs, made him more greatly feel 

The ignominy of their fallen state, 

As man has feelings to the brute unknown. 

Hence was his hell by so much more a hell, 

Making him more infuriate in will ; 

And more he showed it as he longer spake. 

Until his frame shook with the agony 

Of hate that made his visage dreadful to 

Behold : dreadful enough to make the blood 

Of one in flesh coagulate. When paused, 

He stood in silence that was felt as 'twere 

A palpitation of the atmosphere, 

That all his words might percolate into 

Their minds. Belial then brake the silence thus : 

'Belial consent to such inaction? No! 
His very shadow would resent it. Ay, 
The dust that feels the pressure of his feet 
Would squirm to life, and with a thousand stings 
Strike at a thought so damnable. O ye 
Insulted yet puissant powers ! As none 
Of us made choice of this our state, and none 
Endures but in resistant mood, so none 
Of us will hesitate to launch ourselves 
Upon the glorious ocean of his plans 
Who gives our zeal so good a stimulus. 
In that he makes a chance to prove and help 
Ourselves — perhaps recover more than we 
Have lost, or, failing that, at least rebuke 



A POEM— CAN! O I'llI W 

Injustice, while we show our innate love 

Of right, and gain withal a respite from 

This stagnancy of being. This to do. 

We must antagonize who dares to act 

As our antagonist, making His heaven 

A hell, and so our hell a heaven. Our hell? 

We have no hell but that within ourselves, 

Which our despondency has made, thinking 

That all before was blank vacuity; 

Whereas our Leader fills the future with 

Great worlds of promise, where our grand exploits 

Will make our every breast a heaven ; and as 

We make our heaven our Foe will find His hell. 

Thi^ to accomplish we must heed the word 

To crush whatever comes beneath our feet. 

So Him we thwart who dared to place it there. 

In this estate no obligation binds 

Us to obey a will that wills our ill. 

Our only law is individual will. 

Hence I approve our leader's purpose, brimmed 

As it is with bravery, and eagerly 

Await the time to give the protest of 

My deeds against the Power that would obstruct.' 

"By their applause approval was expressed, 
When Mammon felt a sympathetic thrill, 
And thus his thoughts found vent: 

'Great potentates ! 
Our duty looks us in the eye and calls 
Our courage to assert itself. There is 
An Unseen whom we know but by His deeds, 
The offspring of His mind ; deeds that betray 
His character. In these we see the gloat 



148 MANSON'S VISION 

Of a despotic, power to find itself 

Supreme in that one attribute which lacks 

In all ennobling qualities, and hates 

The good it lacks. As victims of such deeds 

And hate, we must reciprocate with deeds 

And hate. Aught less were tacitly to own 

Ourselves in fault, and a supine consent 

To eternize our present state ; the thought 

Of which would rouse the lowest lifeform to 

Assert itself in mutiny. I am 

Prepared for the resistant strife, and in 

Our Chief's report see possibilities 

That make my bosom swell with mighty hopes. 

A being he describes, of substance gross, 

Enswathing an immortal element, 

Each upon each dependent. Should we make 

The gross predominant, the spirit will 

Become debased, and marred the ideal of 

The Maker's mind. And this we may when comes 

The test of mind with mind, of skill with skill ; 

Despite the freak of might that vented on 

Our outward state and could no more. That Power 

Shall find us henceforth on our guard. The task 

That is to tax our ingenuity 

Will furnish exercise akin to bliss. 

The thought of it already mitigates 

The cheerlcssness of our condition. But 

To feel retaliation's power to smite; 

To toy with fickleness and make it serve 

Our ends ; to captivate with poisonous 

Delight the imsuspecfing prey, mocking 

The futile efforts of the Foe, — surely 



A POEM— CANTO Fill 149 

That will give our lot a smack of heaVen. 
For that I pledge eternity of effort.' 

"So said, he stampt his foot, as if to split 
The rock beneath him, when a shout went up 
That rent the air, when Moloch waved his hand, 
And in the hush that followed thus discoursed: 

" 'Puissant Chief and potentates and powers ! 
The Foe has made us foes without our choice, 
And we in honor must as honor bids ; 
Which is, with concentrated force to strike 
In answer to the stroke we have received. 
How this to do with most effect demands 
Immediate and profoundest thought. Therefore 
I look into the heart of facts, and see 
Antagonisms as a clash of wills ; 
Of which the One who trusts material force 
Must have a character whose grossness is 
The counterpart of what He trusts, while, of 
Necessity, He gives a grossness to v 
Their natures whom He dominates, and is 
Destructive of the elements that yield 
The spirit strength, as witnessed in their weak 
Facility already manifest. 
To free them from their low environment 
And re-environ them in sensitive 
Accord with our designs, will be to them 
The acme of benevolence, to Him 
A demonstration of our power. This may 
Be done, since they already have been proved 
Approachable ; susceptible withal 
To influences that debase them in 
Their Ruler's eye to very odioUsness. 



ISO HANSON'S VISION 

We learn that through their lower self alone 

The not-self is perceived. Then ours will be 

To obfuscate the mind until the race 

Beholds a symbol of the Unseen in 

The seen, and so at length the seen becomes 

The all; for which we must experiment 

Until experience ripens to success, 

When our success will be the Foe's dismay.' 

"Then Bacchus showed a readiness to speak, 
When all became attent as thus he clothed 
His thoughts : 

" 'Ye great invincibles ! 
Invincibles? Ay, such we soon shall prove. 
I note a contrast twixt that orb and this. 
There is abounding life, while here is none — 
Not even Death, for here is nought for him 
To feed on, but his ashes are beneath 
Our feet. To look from this to that might well 
Incite this mount to set its rocky feet 
Atrip in dancing jubilance, as me 
It thus inspires : 

In Fortune's hand behold 
A world of more than gold, 
Which asks that will 
And toil and skill 
No effort to obtain it grudge. 

That world doth magnetize 
My heart as well as eyes. 

Hence I awake 

The prize to take 
As Fancy gives a knowing nudge. 



A POEM— CANTO I'lll 151 

Before the bench of Fate 
We all shall stand in state, 

Expounding laws 

That serve our cause, 
Our Chief as our impartial Judge. 

I scorn the unseen Powers, 
And claim that world as oors. 
When I and mine 
With all combine 
Against the Foe without a budge.' 

"Now spake, and thus, the Chief 
A parting word: 'My hopes that ebbed adown 
The channel of the past are in the flood. 
Bearing an argosy of prospects; for 
Your countenances are to me as one 
Exponent of desire and hope, combined 
With an unfailing loyalty, and pledge 
Withal of such achievements as encrown ' 

The brave; by which encouraged, I return 
To earth, there to enforce my task anew. 
Maturest thought assures me that the Power 
Opposing there is what opposed us erst ; 
In spite of which I go full-armed with the 
Audacity of courage to contend 
For government of that fair orb, to be 
A field on which to exercise our powers, 
And fit us so for further enterprise. 
I go to bear the onerous brunt of a 
Tremendous fury that would terrorize 
Me with the booming of a curse ; to make 
Your weal the burden of my mind, the wrongs 



i5-> M.-INSON'S J-JSION 

You bear the burden of my lieart, and on 

My next return to advertise you of 

yVffairs in which your interests are involved. 

Should absence tempt to weariness, be sure 

That absence there will more advantage you 

Than presence here, since this inaction is 

Your irk while there is promised boon, and in 

My absence you will have assurance that 

My hand is on the lever oi your hopes. 

And in your most depressing- hours, forget 

Nc^t that the time is there as long as here, 

The Foe as strong, His wrath as fierce, and I 

Alone will represent you all, to bear 

The all of what would be the burden of 

You all. I know not how will multiply 

The race, how operate the curse pronounced. 

Still multiply it will as He decreed 

Who gave a law prophetic of that end, 

And operate the curse without surcease; 

For nought abates His wrath who spake the word, 

As our injustice borne tloth certify. 

In that we have the axis of a hope. 

Since, by the keeping of His wrath aflame, 

We may provoke llim to intensify 

The action of the curse, even to the 

Extinction of the race, and leave us sole 

Possessors of the orb, which thenceforth will 

Be made our rendezvous, and swung the gate 

Of an eternal hope. And as our hope 

Develops, His, whose germ is in a Seed 

To come, will rot. That threatened Seed, which was 

To bruise your Chief, confirms our partnership; 



A POEM—CANIO VlII 153 

Hence every one must take it as against 
Himself, and all be as they were but one. 
Then watch for my return. Till then, adieu.' 
"That said, he slowly disappeared in space, 
As dies a breath upon the frosty air." 



CANTO IX 



CANTO IX 

During an interval, my mind was in 

A rolling' surge of thought, when he resumed. 

"The clock of time had ticked away the years ; 
And now the primal pair, obedient to 
The law as spoken by their Maker in 
The ear, and written by His finger in 
The flesh, had multiplied, replenishing 
The earth, which half reluctantly returned 
Its dole. Life was an April day of sun 
And cloud, the contrast twixt their earlier state 
And this, an ever-present monitor 
That spake in Memory's ear ; in heeding which 
They did the Will Supreme. And having from 
The cup of stem experience drank the gall. 
The draught had made them wary of the foe. 
Hence strong where innocence had proved itself 
So weak. To further fortify themselves 
In fealty, and warn their progeny 
Withal against the foe, a sacrifice 
Commemorated, year by year, the blight 
Of Eden's deed, acknowledging the taint, 
The guilt, the ill desert, yet trust, of all, 
Which every one regarded as his own. 
So through the outer eye would they impress 
The inner self, while adding cautions that 
Would serve as guideboards pointing out the road 
Of rectitude. And simultaneously. 
The Infinite was visioning within 



iS8 MANSON'S VISION 

The sweet attractiveness of righteousness, 
To have the will of all accordant with 
His will ; in all of which the Adversary saw 
A special urgency and stimulus, 
And hence prepared his arts to meet the whims 
Of mood and circumstance. But not as erst, 
By occular device and vocal word, 
Which would arouse resistant wariness, 
But by suggestions in the chamber where 
The soul holds private council with itself, 
And virile thought begets the strong desire 
That makes itself the master of the Will. 
As moved the years, the moral poison of 
The sire betrayed transmission to the son 
Whose right would be to monument the home, 
Plus the maternal ante-natal moods 
Of days when doubts and dim uncertainties 
Hung o'er the spirit like a lowering cloud. 
Which gave the fiesh hereditary taint, 
And the arch foe encouragement." 

Then was 
He not a creature of necessity, 
A vane that could but |x>int as blew the wind? 

"All wills inherit tendencies ; yet none 
Are bondmen to necessity, else were 
Necessity a substitute for will ; 
Deeds void of moral quality ; no wrong, 
No right, hence no accountability. 
This human nature and its laws deny. 
Conscience refutes it. Every blush of shame 
For deeds, or fear of consequence, is a 
Mute negative. Nor were thy question asked, 



A POEM— CANTO IX 159 

Its contradiction being in the thought. 

In him was but the nature of the race, 

Endowed with destinating potencies, 

Which hung not on the slender thread of his 

Heredity, but on the culture of 

Its traits, by which himself was maker of 

Himself, the molder of his destiny. 

The ultimate of self. Though he could be 

None other, he could reach the summit of 

Himself and find the atmosphere of heaven. 

His knowledge of the ought was manifest 

When came the time for yearly sacrifice, 

With deeper consciousness of selfhood and 

Implied responsibilities to both 

The brothers, who would seek in solitude 

The hallowed silence that was Nature's awe 

In presence of the Infinite. There they 

Would offer each his individual gift — 

The hieroglyph of both his thought and heart — 

To win the favor of the Great Unseen. 

The Day was reaching forth a foot to step 

Upon the threshold of the East, and Night 

Was putting on her sandals to depart. 

When still the elder lay in slumber's light 

Embrace, and airy fancies came and went 

In whimsical promiscuousness ; and most 

Conspicuous in the scene, the fiend appeared. 

Bodied in splendor of auroral light, 

And thus addressed him in impressive tones : 

'O worthy son of worthy parentage ! 
Thy thoughts, I see, are Godward turned, which proves 
The goodness of thy heart ; a goodness He 



Kk-. M ANSON'S I'lSION 

Will recompense. For verily it is 
A coinpliinenlary homage that so true 
A representative of virtue pays, 
WHiich, were it paid to me. T would receive 
With smiles of benediction on thy head. 
So must He feel, antl so wilt thou be blest. 
Might I suggest an otToring worthy of 
Thyself and llim, the product of thy toil 
Should be the symbol of thy heart ; for it 
\\'ould be the essence of thyself, and so 
Thyself were on the altar laid ; which act 
Would earn thee merit and reward. Aught more 
I need not say to one so versed as thou 
In duty's code. Farewell. I shall attend 
When lie bestows 11 is benison, and feast 
Myself, my eyes and oars, on thy delight.' 
'How reassuring.' said he when awake, 
'To have this very transcript of my thought. 
Why should I look upon parental faults 
As mine, and simulate repentance for 
A deed not mine? Or why make every flaw 
Ot mine a nagging ghost, and think- that He 
Who made me man requires the service of 
A God ? But where is flaw with flawless will ? 
And that He knows, if aught He knows, I have, 
As will bo indicated by tho gift 
That roprosonts myself.' 

"Thus was he more 
Benumbed in spiritual soiise. as by 
The Tempter's unctions words confirmed in that 
To which his nature had before inclined ; 
A nature dead to good as was the ground 



// I'OliM—CAN'ro IX l6l 

lie tilled. Hence lie prepared what suvored of 

His sordidness, and trust in merited 

Reward instead of Mercy's booti, tliinkin^ 

To buy the favor of the Inrinitc 

With coin from out the mint nf I'rovideiice. 

When came the sad memorial day, the two 

Retired into a solitude, where they 

Anfl ( lod alone would he; the elder with 

His offering' of an estimated worth 

That vanity a])praised ; the yoim^er with 

A symbolcd trust in the redemptive power 

Of the head-bruisinp One, There they had each 

l'rcj)ared an altar of the nidiewn stone 

At hand, and now their offerin^j^s laid thereon — 

His victim this and that his bloodless pift — 

Applied the fire, then waited for the brif(ht 

Approving sip;n. Anon the j:(lory-cloud 

Envelo])ed the uncirclinj:^ smoke of that 

Which symboli7-ed tlie iraj^edy f)f death 

And life — Justice and Mercy leaj.(ued— and shone 

KfTulpent as the neucleus of a sim. 

To sip^nify Jehovah's smile; wliile that 

Which had an odor of the mart went U|) 

In unillumined blackness, sendinj^ back 

A shadow that his eye beheld as 'twere 

Jehovah's frown, on which a while he pi'azed, 

With f^rowinj^ sullenness, then stept aside, 

And in abstracted thought, with downcast look, 

Mechanically sauntered to and fro 

Till startled by a voice from out a cloud, 

As falls an echo on the ear, and thus: 

"'If w(dl thou do(;st, it is well with thee; 
— 11 — 



i(>2 M.INSON'S I'ISION 

If ill, sin coucheth at thy tloor to make 
Thy soul its prey ; for evil mood hegets 
The evil deed. Then master it e'er it 
Doth master thee and lead ihce on to do 
The evil deed.' 

"The warning- was a spark 
To a combustivo wrath that had no ears 
To hear when Wisdom spake. So there he stood 
In statue-silence, threatening as a sky 
Where winter breeds his storms, imagining 
A grievance, when the Tempter prompted thoughts 
That came (listinclly to his consciousness 
As could a fellow's voice. Yea, Fancy saw 
The very form that visited his sleep, 
As thus : 

" H ) worthy one ! I am amazed — 
.Xmazed at what nor earth nor heaven has seen 
The like. Words choke me in their crowd to leave 
Mv lips in sympathetic indignation. 
1 came in due fulfillment of my word, 
To gratulate thee on the blessing sure 
To drop in dewey sweetness on thy head. 
Rut Oh! (Ircal Justice! whither art thou fled 
That such indignity is i)ossiblc? 
ll;ul 1 presented such an t>tYering as 
A voluntary homage, and been so 
Recpiited in return, I should have wished 
Ten thousand worlds within my grasp, that T 
Might hurl them at the ingrate wickedness. 
What thou hast done was worthy of thy heart : 
Rut the return was worthy of a fiend, 
And leaves a curse upon the day 'tis done. 
What is thv brother to be darling of 



A POIiM—C/IN TO IX 163 

This partiality, which must sii^j^est 
Ambitious thoughts to him, and wariness 
For self-dcfonse in thco. Thou art above 
Him by the right of birth. Docs this rebuff 
Portend a purpose to supplant thee? Thou 
Art more than e(|ual in the stalwarlness 
That glorifies the manhood of a man. 
Then why should his effeminacy be 
Esteemed to thy disparagement ? Yet where 
Is thy redress? Nay, thy defense against — 
We know not what, except as inkled in 
This gross indignity ? Thou canst not reach 
The greater One unseen. lUit one there i.s 
Within thy reach, in striking whom thou wilt 
Defend thyself. Then do what thy defense 
Demands, without a scruple, knowing this: 
That what demands the deed is guiltier than 
The deed.' 

"At the suggestion mooted thus 
He felt an impulse to avenge himself. 
Nor needed he delay to frame excuse 
For venting of his wrath. Still, ere the thought 
Became his deed, he had the touch of a 
Restraining power, and a revealing flash 
That made him pause. But the intensity 
Of wrath, in their despite, impellerl to haste, 
I>est Conscience, standing in his path, might yet 
Prevent him with forbidding sword, as he 
Of Pcthor in a later age was inet. 
The 1)rother theti approached with soothing words, 
Which brought a momentary hdl, to be 
A tightening of the bowstring of his wrath, 



104 MANSON'S VISION 

Whose arrow would with more vehemence fly, 
As thus it (H(l: 

" 'What hast thou done to thus 
Supjilant me in His favor whom T sought 
To please hy oflFering- what, by toil, is made 
A portion of myself, which thine is not. 
Hence has imequal worth. Knowest thou not 
My place as heading thee ; or, knowing, does 
The prod of thy ambition thus incite 
Thee to a thrusting of thyself between 
Me and my heirship rights?' 
Abel. 'Nay, hid such thoughs 

Begone ; for they are an injuistice both 
To thee and me. Thy right I own, and pay 
The reverence that the right demands, holding 
Thee in esteem as thou art near of kin. 
I hither came to share a blessing, not 
Monopolize, and have no power on the 
Dispensing hand to open or to shut. 
Thy blessing is delayed ; but much I hope 
Its feet are at thy door.' 

Cain. 'Thy speech is fair, 

But T distrust the deeds designed to give 
Persuasive lubrication to thy arts. 
Insinuating into His esteem 
To my disparagement and detriment.' 
A. 'Nought have T done but what thyself may'st do; 
Nought gained but what is in thy power to gain.' 
C. 'Ay, with thy nature ; but I like it not.' 
A. 'Thy like or dislike is no fault of mine; 
Nor fault is mine that He accepted what 
I offered and rejected thine.' 



A POEM— CANTO IX 165 

C. -'For that 

I like Him not, and like not what He hkes.' 

A. 'O brother! shudder at the wickedness 

Of such a word.' 

C. 'I'm in no shuddering mood; 

Nor will I brook the insolence that smites 

In thy rebuke.' 

"His movements were as if 
To leave, when, seeing an unguardedness, 
He followed up his words with blows, until 
Extinguishing the spark of life in him 
Whose blood craved pity with no common voice. 
No sooner done than there he stood, aghast 
And trembhng at the horror of his deed, 
He now a blood-stained fratricide. So still 
And silent all around, it was as though 
Creation held her breath, as well she might 
When her best hope was gone. Then thought he of 
The trees as witnesses that seemed to shed 
Upon the air a whisper of his guilt. 
The altar stones had voices for his ear 
That said antiphonally, Sin to sin ! 
Yea, sin to sin ! The very ground beneath 
His feet groaned imprecations, and the light 
Of heaven pierced through the bosom of his guilt. 
Showing the inward blackness of his heart, 
Until he shuddered to behold himself. 
Fain had he bid the vanished one return. 
Too late. In guilty cowardice he stole 
Away as if to lose himself in some 
More distant solitude, when, from the void 
Above, the former voice spake audibly 



1 66 MAXSON'S VISION 

With question that impHed his guilt, and met 

His brusque evasion with accusing words 

That shot their hghtning through his soul ; and at 

Their heels rolled thunder curses till he felt 

As 'twere a world's weight crushing him to make 

Confession of an agony of fear 

To meet a human face. Assurance then 

Was given that Mercy still would hold a shield 

Against assault. With that assurance as 

His passport in the world, he felt secure. 

Yet dared he not to meet a father's eye 

And mothers' heart, whose grief might scorch his own. 

It had indeed intensified his grief 

And brought remorseful agony, could he 

Have seen the horror staring in their eyes, 

And heard the wailing anguish of their hearts, 

Upon discovery of the daring deed. 

'This,' said the father, gazing on the corpse, 

'This is death — death — the deeper vengeance of 

The curse, contaminating so the blood 

That ill comes with and overcomes the good. 

The pride of our possession proves our loss. 

Better not have than have to lose, as thus. 

The cup of life is full of bitterness.' 

" 'Of bitterness,' said she, 'mingled with sweet — 
So much I would not miss the draught — Ah me ! 
Thou treasure of my heart! Self of myself! 
I see thy infant smile, and hear the lisp 
And prattle that were music to my heart. 
And then thy blooming qualities were so 
Perfumed with promise, and began to bear 
The fruitage of a manhood rich in deeds 



A POEM— CANTO IX 167 

That gratify a mother's love. But thou 

Art dead. Dead did I say? Not so. Not so. 

Within this bosom thou art hving still. 

The past is more alive than when we called 

It present ; for I see it, hear it, feel 

It here. And yet there is a void. What balm— 

What balm can heal a mother's bleeding heart? 

Cain ! The burden of a mother's life ! 
Hadst thou no pity for a mother's woe? 

1 nursed thee, tended thee to manhood's years 
With fond solicitude. And now— and now—' 

"Tears told what words could not, as from the sward 
The father bore the melancholy charge. 
The author of the nameless crime had fled, 
In readiness to meet his other self, 
Sure that the bias of her heart would make 
Her ear a willing auditor to his 
False-colored version of the guilty deed. 
Whose dark atrocity he meant to glaze 
Until he justified. But when they met. 
He must perforce perceive her startled look, 
And thence infer a change of countenance 
That less indulgent eyes must note ; at which 
He seemed to see another self, and hear 
The voice of execration from behind. 
Hence fled to lose himself from common gaze. 
The day's last hours rolled heavily away. 
And Night was stationing her sentinels, 
When Slumber dallied with his weary brain. 
And 'mid her wantoning two altars and 
A corpse were as dead eyes that stared at him. 
Then in the silence thus his thoughts took form : 



J 68 M. IN SON'S riSION 

'Stianm' i-()iiti;i(lic"lii)ii (his! I Icll liiin as 
Unconscious as tlu> dust cm wliicli he foil. 
He saw not, hoard not. iiiDvod not, hroalhod not; yet 
lie seems to bo ahoul nio. In the dark 
I havo a star like oyo that soos what in 
Tho lij;hl swoons from mo liko tho stars, llis life 
Wont out in darkness, is tho niijht his day, 
111 whioh ho oomos with a ix'inoach ? In llosh 
I oonld havo sot myself apart; but now 
The elosiu};- of my eyes exolndos him not. 
Or is he prosetU only ;is a dream? 
lUtt what are dreams? They may bo shadows of 
Realities that advertise ns oi 
Approaching- ills, as mine havo boon and may 
Be yet aj^ain. b'or men may multiply, 
Obedient to connnand, ami look on me 
The wrath of the forbidden deed, in which 
Will bo a deeper oultini; than tho {\cc{\, 
("ansiiiL; a lifeloni; am»ny within. 
What cause provoked this ocMilliot in events? 
Not fanll of mine, who had a i^ood iiUoiU, 
Hnt llis who from the dark of the unseen 
ll.'id h.imporod mo with f.anoifnl commands, 
To havo mo knool this, and no other, way 
Before Ilim — just as thouj^h tho manner of 
An .action were its sonl— and then condemned 
Mo l"or a swervinj^' stop: provoking;- so 
My olu^lor that I did what olliorwise 
I IkhI not thoni;ht. This says lie loves me not. 
Then how can T love Ilim? or lovin!:^ uot. 
Mow I'avo tho It'ok i-tf lo\ o and Ao its deeds? 
BiU He has power that oanutH be withstood, 
llis throne is said to be anion*;- the stars; 



// /'OHM CANIO IX iT)! 

Yet not so far l)iit lie can visit us. 

Winds arc His hrcatli, li^^litnin^s the (lashes of 

His eye, and thunders emphasis of voice, 

To niai<e creation realize His power; 

The very tliought oi which is terrible. 

And there is no seclusion so concealed, 

No darkness so i)rofound, that I can hide; 

No, not (lie hosoni of the deepest sea. 

Nor darkest corner of a dawnless cave. 

Or f would (lee to it and there remain. 

Then all I do will be beneath His eye, 

Hence I must placate Him with show of what 

He wills, thouL^h it will be an irksome (ask; 

¥(.)V in Mis woids there was a (inj^e of ruth. 

Hut be I where 1 may, and come what may, 

One still remains whom f can love — myself.' 

"In that flecisive hour he locked the door 
Upon his banishment, and thenceforth lived 
Within the circle that his selfhoorl scribed. 
Embittered in his lonesomeness, and by 
His at(i(ude of will distorted his 
Conceptions of the Infmite until 
His honi.'ij^'e was a dead formality, 
And tin- nu)nien(ous facts of linnian life 
Were but half lej^ible f)n memory's page; 
While (his rebuke induccfl callosity 
Of spiritii.'d sense, in which he saw 
Not Mercy's autoj:(raj)h upon his cloud. 
Hence to his propfcny was the bequest 
Of a distracted mind and heart, who could 
No more transmit than they received ; of which 
Arc records in the |)roba((' court of time." 



CANTO X 



CANTO X 

The years to Satan were his working hours ; 

To those behind, elastic fragments of 

Eternity that stretched beyond the reach 

Of patience. Hence he thought of Httle but 

The scheme in hand, assuming that the hosts 

Were waiting patiently for his return ; 

While they were in a mood for mutiny, 

Had aught more promising held out its hand. 

But mutiny against the one who might 

No more return, were throwing dust against 

The wind, to have it blow upon themselves. 

Or tearing up a mountain by the roots 

To hurl it at a shadow. Yet within 

Their bosoms raged a passionate tumult of 

Desire to vent their disappointment, with 

A smiting force, at something visible. 

As chargers curbed and champing helplessly 

The bits of destiny, when means they would 

Devise to fuse their feelings into deeds. 

With this intent they gathered at the mount 

From which the Chief had taken exit, in 

A throng so dense they pressed with toes to heel. 

Above them all conspicuous stood the four 

Whose counsel was the staff that sole remained. 

Then Belial stept, with stately majesty. 

And took a stand upon the highest peak; 



174 MANSON'S VISIOJ^ 

From whence his eye encompassed all the scene, 
And with uplifted hand he waved a hush, 
When all were as one ear as thus he spake: 

'Immortal and illustrious powers long doomed 
To inactivity, what shall I say 
In absence of our Chief, what do to rouse 
Our lethargy to action that avails, 
Either to countervail oppugnant power 
That lays on us the burden of our state, 
Or tranquilize the nerves of Patience to 
Endure continued strain ; for not 
Our Leader must we think to blame for his 
Delay, suspecting that we are no more 
Than shadows flitting o'er the landscape of 
His mind. The cause of this delay can be 
No fault of his. Mayhap his hand is on 
The lever of a task to leave which would 
Imperil its success. Or seeing that 
Our hopes are centered all in him, the Foe 
May treat him as the whole of us, through him 
To bring those hopes to nought and, leaving us 
Forever leaderless as now, compel 
Submission to the tyranny of His 
Authority. Or, in malignity. 
The concentrated power of all His hosts 
May lay its hand upon the single head. 
We all remember what he said about 
Tile curse pronounced on him. The holding of 
Him in duress may be the import that 
The curse contained. But fact, not reasons, now 
Concerns us most. To us he is not while 
Crnf'''tirn< nro and arc oiM">rcssing us. 



// I 'OHM CANTO X 175 

What, then, to do in these eoTi'Htions is^ 

The problem of the now. My jiid^rncnt is, 

That any action is to be preferred 

To none, and what antaj^jonizes most 

Were best. The very thought of beinj^ in 

Oppuj^nance thrills my conra^c; and my hf>pe. 

And should our cfTorts feel tlur crushinj^ stamp 

Of I lis fierce wrath, we still may riot in 

The ^lory rjf attempt, and at th(,- least 

J-)isplay a couraj^e wfjrthy of ourselves, 

And ruffle ITis tranquility ; in which 

Achievement were a savor of success. 

Hear, then, what I propose, which is that, like 

Our Chief ,we go in venturous quest of .some 

New orb wlier(; we may enmlate his deeds; 

For which we have encoura)^ement in his 

Success, since there are rjther worlds, and what 

Is once done may be done again. Not that 

I minimize the task ; but he has j)rov(rd 

Its i)fjssibility. True, his exceed 

Om- single attributes, but we may go, 

(\ach with his host in mass, anrl force otir way 

'IVj what may temi)t our aptitudes.' 

"Then came 
The word of Mannnon, thus: 

'Creat dignities! 
Submission has the clank of chains; of chains 
That we whose liberty has cost so much 
Are not disposed to wear. C'hain all the worlds 
To some strong central stake of power, and leave 
Them mr^tionless until eternity 
O-rows grey, but leave us hv till then: ay, free 



176 ;1/.I/V.SY)/V.V risioN 

'l\) ;u'l with ail uil lettered Will. I'tit mirs, 

ill artini;- nut, has hccii the I'lt't'doiii of 

The (lead, with us laiuenliitq that it served 

Us iidt, while every movemeiit tlial we made 

Was ohjeetless, a whirliiii;- of the wind. 

'I'he words oi" r.elial :wc the hreath of life, 

'To ri)nse oiir energies and clear the star 

0{ liope. With him, I would not dare (o hlame 

Our Chief, who, siu.c^ly, has a world in which 

To operate, resisted hy his l'\>e 

And ours. In i^lory of achievement he 

May he ahsoihed, while haviiii;- faith that we 

WHio erstwhile found this orh will vetiture fortli 

Into the deep, to tlnd some fairer orh. 

In which to exercise om* stas^ii.uU powers. 

And so develop them. Tn my esteem 

TTis ahsetice proves his contldence; for fear, 

Oy hut the whisjuM- of a douht, had qiven 

llim swifter jMnions than the lii^ht to come 

And make secure our steadfastness. \Ve all 

Rememher well how scintillated his 

Benevolence with hope and purpose that 

Tlluminated every mind with ;in 

F.xpectancy to rule monarchic in 

Some cither worlds. In th.at his heart and lu>pe 

Are with us still. Towar<l that, in spite of what 

Has intervened, let all our thouijhts he turned. 

ludial supfCfests a fourfold enterprise. 

And sees advnntas^e in .attempts in mass. 

Why not quadruple that adv.uit.is.je hv 

A unity of force; nor force alone 

T>iU skill, cooper.alini^- to .attain 



// PORM— CANTO X \yj 

One coDviiioii j^o.'il ? In sucli ;i (|iu'sl wnild he 
Activity, and tlial itself would he 
One (jualily of heaven.' 

"I iere Ik'lial made? 
An inlerru])tion, thus : 

'( )ne fourth of us 
Can do what one alone has done, and hy 
The multiplying of our spheres increase 
Our measure of responsihility, 
And \r\yjQ our aspirations energy, 
Making our gcnlhood worthier of the name. 
Admit the super-greatness of f)in- (!hief, 
Which has no unit espial in our ranks. 
In practice, it may find its equals in 
Our multiples, and we as gods have rule 
O'er se|)arate worlds, wilh ])rospects widening as 
Eternity kee])s up its round.' 

"I'acchus 
With hand uplifted hushed ihe long applause, 
And thus: 

"My ears have often heard the roar 
()f futile wrath, my eyes heheld the strut 
Of hraggart impotence, and I heen da/.ed 
Before the dazzle of our titles as 
Our Fancy toyed with worlds, or thought the stars 
Were dust that we could swc!ep from o(T the roof 
Of space. I hit wc: are modest now, and hut 
Assume that worlds await the hlessing of 
Our feet. This visionary hf^ast and hope 
Comes like the vomit from a crater's mouth 
That indicates a hillious state within. 
This modesty may still demean itself 
— \'i — 



I7S A/./A'.SY)^'.V I -IS I ON 

Till soiiii' of us aro ready to rci)ciit ; 

1\) creep into the sIuuIdvvs of the ])asl, 

On weary hands and knees; to have our eyes 

yXllovv with penitential tears; to have 

lUacU Melancholy ])ercli on us and croak 

liuniility; to own that we have heen 

In I'ault and merit chastisement. Mayhaj) 

This estimate belies tlie fact. lUit Hes 

Are ciUTcncy when truth is rare as i^enis. 

It were a waste oi our credulity 

To close a sanj^wine hand and thiid-; that we 

.llave clasped impossihililies. Uctler 

Accept with e(pianimit\' what is. 

Then shake the past as dust from off our feet, 

Nor till the future with the ])hantonis of 

A wish, to have tliem vanish when we think 

To touch. Act as hclits our dij^nity, 

When circmustances put it thus to test ; 

The dignity whose innate (pialities 

C'onsist in hcin^- masli'rs of ourselves; 

In haviuf^' clearness of the mental eye; 

In keepin<^ impulses in {\uc restraint; 

In makinj;" circnmslances how to us, 

Instead of we to them. Indulge no more 

In tiahhiness of thought and mavvkishness 

()f feciiuq;, thinking- we arc wiser than 

( )Uir Chief in what he knows and we know not. 

Hut let me for the once recant and say 

That so nnich hravery needs a vent, and deck 

That bravery with the i^arlands of a rhyme. 

Let the lightnings blink and blaze 
Till the worlds are in amaze. 



// I'or.M-CANTO X 17'; 

Let llic vvr.'itlifiil iImiimIcis roll 
As a curse; of Nature's soul. 
1 can stand and brave the scath 
Of their threat atid of their wrath. 

Let the si)ecter of ;i nought 
lie a hiij^'hear t*; my ihoiij^ht. 
Let it fht about the mind 
Like a terror to the hhnd. 
I woujld shrink into a dot 
Until others tlioiij'lil iiic not. 

So I brave the things that be, 
Tlien from I'aney's nothings flee. 
Next J. treasure np with care 
Relics f)f the Ihiiij^s that were. 
P.ut the only things I save 
Are mementoes of the brave. 

Those words I dedieate to all the brave 

Who brace their conraj^e for a struj^j^le with 

The monster difficulties challenjj^inp^ 

In space, yet shake to see a vacuum where 

They wouhl our ('hief. Shf^uld some one soul th(; words 

With melrjdy, we mij^^ht ajmpose ourselves 

With music — melancholy's antidote.' 

"Then came a burst that sma(?l<ed of merriment, 
When MoI(K:h took a forward step anrl thus: 

" *No word have I to favor new emprise; 
For T recall our Leader's latest wf>rfl, 
Which bade prepare for his return, and is 
Assurance that he will ; and since Ik; will, 
T wotdd be here when he shall make report. 



i8o HANSON'S VISION 

Then count not Moloch as a partner in 

Ambition to explore the sea of space 

On which our Leader had such weary quest. 

But should we enter on so great emprise, 

In fourfoldness of mass, what welding power 

Would make us one in thought and plan to fit 

Emergencies? Or should we differ, what? 

And what provision of experience have 

We in our store to meet contingencies? 

Would patience be in less demand than now, 

Or failure leave us in a better mood? 

But what would be success ? to find ourselves 

Confronted by quadruple power, ourselves 

Divided into fourths? Or, what, should all 

Go forth as one? Should we who differ here 

Be more harmonious in our strategy? 

And should we occupy some orb, what then? 

If tenantless, what action would employ 

Our powers? or tenanted, what unity 

Were ours without a head? Change now the scene. 

And see our Leader come to find that we 

Have put a blot upon his word ! As for 

Myself, I find that word a refuge from 

Impatience, nothing doubting that he trusts 

Us while he waits for the maturing of 

Such earth events as need his watchful care. 

And why not we trust him whose all has been, 

And is adventured still in our behalf, 

In whom he centers his benevolent 

Intents, and whose devotion plumes the wings 

On which his aspirations soar. He knows 

Our high ambitions, and his mission now 



A POEM— CANTO X i8i 

Is to prepare the way for their attainment. 
In view, then, of a past and present that 
Have earned and had our confidence, which one 
Of us will vouch himself of greater mind, 
Of truer heart and nobler aim? If such 
There be, let him stand forth and publish the 
Transcendent fact. Your silence is the soul 
Of eloquence, and mightier than the roar 
Of wordy cataracts. I take it as 
Your heart's amen. Then let our patience prove 
Its measure of vitality, assured 
That what has been so long in ripening 
Will have the mellower flavor when it comes.' 
'Amen to Moloch's word,' said Bacchus, 'and 
I should prefer to roam o'er every zone 
Of this unsightly orb mumbling aniens , 
Or searching for the ghost of nothingness, 
To repetition of the state from which 
Was here afforded us so welcome a 
Retreat. The memory of that welcome has 
A lingering sweetness still. If need, I could 
Invent activity that would engage 
The mind to weariness ; could look upon 
These mountains as so many monsters, and 
Their caves as mouths that mock us, and myself 
As wielding all the elements of force 
To crack the ribs and scalp the heads of those, 
And gag the windy insolence of these ; 
Could think the stars engaged in civil war 
And I astride a sun, charging upon 
Them with the terror of a thunder-whoop. 
Activity? Ay, all of us can make 



i82 MANSON'S VISION 

Activity, if only venting of 

Complaints ; and some, perhaps, already find 

Relief! But let ns find activity 

In cultivating patience till we see 

Our Chief.' 

"Said Mammon, 'By his past our Chief 
Has earned eternal confidence, nor in 
Our hosts is ingrate so detestable 
To stint that confidence, nor one but sees 
That in his presence were a doubling of 
Our strength. But confidence in him is not 
The him ; nor do we copy him by this 
Our apathy. Nay, could lie Hash his thoughts 
To us, no doubt he would rebuke us for 
That apathy and bid us gaze upon 
His blazoned record till we are inspired 
To an enthusiasm that would emulate. 
Why are we but to ilo ; to do as do 
The worlds — roll in our sc])aratc orbits, and 
The whole sweep in the vast ecliptic of 
A common plan, contributing our share 
To the diversified phenomena 
Of life, sustaining universal poise? 
But on this orb we neither do nor can. 
This, then, is not our place. But shall we hence 
And leave our Chief— who may return — to think 
Our absence proves our recreance? We need 
Not so ; but some may here remain to thrill 
Him with the tidings of our quest, in proof 
Of courage animated by his own.' 

"r)acchus to this made prompt reply, 'Mammon,' 
Said he, 'whose mind is father of this plan, 



A POEM— CANTO X 183 

Is fittest to be guardian of his child. • 
Then he it is who may be left behind.' 
'The leader's place,' said Mammon, 'is in front, 
Not rear.' 

'But think,' said I'acchus, 'what a mind 
Will be required to tell our Chief we arc 
Not here, but, in our loyalty, took flight 
For everywhere ! Wc need the fact before 
Him in the glory of its magnitude. 
Belike he would baptize our foot])rints with 
His blessing, and explore infinity 
To find our whereabouts, that he might see 
The reflex of his greatness in our deeds! ' 

'So grave a problem,' Mammon said, 'demands 
That Judgment don deliberative robes.' 

'And keep his seat until our Chief arrives. 
Who may be, even now, an auditor 
Unseen.' 

"So came antagonizing thoughts. 
But every leader now was dumb, while all 
The orb was as the sleeping room of Death, 
In which they could not even hear him breathe. 
Awhile they stood, still as a statue of 
Suspense, and all the hosts melted away 
Liike some broad glacier in the August sun, 
Scared by the apparition of return 
To empty space. And so their problem had 
A jagged edge that none dared seize. At length 
The leaders wandered o'er the plains ; Belial 
And his in wrath fulness that fain would smite 
If but a worm, could it be made to feel 
With an intensity of agony. 



i84 HANSON'S VISION 

Mammon and his, who wished the dust athrill 

With an acquisitive impassionment, 

That they might minister to something on 

A lower plane. Bacchus and his indulged 

In mental jugglery; made sentients of 

Insensate things, and held communion with 

Them all in lightsome mood ; while Moloch wrapt 

Himself in mantle thoughts, as lonesome as 

A stranger in a city solitude. 

Where life is largely windy rustle of 

The forest leaves, with myriads dropping down, 

His hosts as sentinels who waited in 

Their weariness for dawn. Time swung his scythe 

And mowed the years, leaving the swath behind. 

Of which they took no note, since looking on 

Before across duration's unfenced field. 

At length their Chief was on his wonted mount, 

And looking down across the scene, disclosed 

His presence, when a tempest-impulse swept 

Them all in eddies to surround the place 

And hail him as expressed their ecstacy. 

Silent at first he stood and gazed around ; 

And while he thus with a majestic pride, 

His person seemed to have magnetic power, 

With its enswathing scintillance, which would 

Perforce gleam outwardly, his eyes like fixed 

Stars in the sockets of the night when earth's 

Deep northern sky is blackly blue. After 

Impressive pause he thus regaled their ears : 

'Immortal potentates ! Illustrious powers ! 
Your tensioned patience has a guaranty 
Of due reward. I come the harbinger 



A POEM— CANTO X 185 

Of hope ; first to apprize you of a strife 

In an arena where the laurels may 

With ease be twined around your worthy brows ; 

To which arena I shall duly be 

Your guide, when Opportunity flings out 

The signal flag, which is unfurling from 

The staff of time. The base of life to him 

The apex of earth's various forms, is the 

Insensate substance of the orb which, with 

Himself, is cursed, earthening his nature till 

He has an instability of will 

That is a tendency to topple as 

We push. To give the push will be our task, 

And as he falls, a forecast of our lot. 

The years in passing multiplied the race. 

The pair transmitting their infirmity 

Unto their progeny, of whom were two 

Of sexual sameness with the sire, who by 

Their nature had a lordship place of power. 

With onus and responsibility 

To succor and defend the weaker ones. 

For their control I joined in strenuous strife 

With him who in our former state aspersed 

Us and seduced unstable ones. On him 

It seems the Unseen One relies to be 

His visible executive, which fact 

Is inspiration of encouragement. 

He with a consummate audacity 

And subtle strategy confronted me 

In efforts to secure the elder one. 

In whom the race would find its cornerstone. 

Then came the clash of mind with mind, of skill 



i86 MANSON'S VISION 

With skill, and I prevailed. The younger had 

My less attention, since the weaker one, 

While in the elder was my quoin. So he 

Succumbed, when my opponent saw in those 

Conditions a numeric equipoise. 

And felt a satisfaction in results. 

But I possessed the key of fate, and knew 

Myself as master of events, as so 

It proved ; for in the weakness of the one 

I saw a breaching- place and made a breach. 

A season came when both agreed to make 

An offering to placate the One unseen. 

Whose character they estimated by 

The past, which had obsessed them with its curse. 

Plying the one whom now I deemed my ward 

With words that were as perfume to the thought, 

I lured him to present what could but give 

Offence, which drew forth lightnings of rebuke; 

While he withstanding, obfuscated by 

Infatuating notions of a Seed 

That was to curse, received an omen that 

They deemed a benedicting smile, which then 

I made a sting that roused the slighted one 

To a revengeful jealousy, which in 

Its murderous fury slew the favored one, 

Without an ear for Pity's pleading voice. 

So was fulfilling what had been foredoomed 

By Him who breathed His curse on me : that I 

Should bruise the Seed — its heel, my head, said He. 

My heel, its head, say I ; and there it got 

The fatal stroke. But in that foreword I 

Perceive a purpose to prolong the strife 



A POEM— CANTO X 187 

Which, with the multiplying of the race, 
Becomes inevitable, should He not 
'Withdraw and so confess defeat, which were 
To give the last gasp of extremity. 
Toward this finale we must point our means, 
And in our courage find our providence ; 
For though the number of the race is small, 
It is increased. In will unstable, it 
Is not without ability. Though I 
Have grooved the future that events may move 
In it to the inevitable end, 
There must be force applied to overcome 
Inertia, and have him upon my palm 
In whom is pledge of all. The potency 
To multiply forecasts increased demands. 
But these will bring activity that is 
A source of bliss. Then welcome we the years 
That can but come as almoners of good. 
My Fancy has a license to behold 
A picture of the future mirrored in 
Time's glassy sea. I take that license, and 
I see the representative of the 
Unseen upon the summit of His might. 
With reinforcing legions at command. 
Imagining that in His arsenal 
Are slings and curses that can scatter us. 
I see my ward a countless multitude, 
Fixed as the polar star in serving us. 
On whom they vainly make assault, to seize 
The will and hold it in the gyves of their 
Authority. I see you leaders and 
You loyal powers engaging them in a 



i88 M ANSON'S I'lSION 

Successful strife. But while I look into 

That glassy sea, there comes a ruffle of 

Continc^encies ; those harle(|Uiins that make 

Our visions bubbles of imcertainty. 

Uncertainty, I say — not of the fact 

Of our success, but of the how, and the 

Beyond, which is an orb of promise so 

Far off that it defies our estimate. 

Still, far or near, its glory shines for us. 

Then let your minds prepare for glorious deeds 

And glory will be yours.' 

"That said, applause 
Rolled forth as roll distracted thunders in 
A mountain range. When ceased, he thus resumed 
'The race, I say, will nuiltiply and call 
For all your skill. Meanwhile your patience must 
Submit to circumstances as the first 
Condition of success. So few the race, 
Your leaders only need accompany me 
On this return, to exercise their skill 
Preliminary to your entering on 
The wider stage of action that will make 
Demand for our united energies.' 

"Those words put Satisfaction's teeth on edge, 
And every one in disappointment looked 
His fellow in the eye, yet nothing sjxike. 
Nor word was needed to inform him, more 
Than humans need a telescope to see 
The sun ; for he perceived an adverse turn 
Of thought expressed on every countenance, 
As though a hidden hand wrote there the word. 
Distrust. So darkly yawned the gulf twixt his 
Announcement and their hopes ; to span which for 



A POEM— CANTO X 189 

The crossinj^ of their trust he added thus: 

'Conditions bind us with the links of a 
Necessity that holds us in restraint; 
And none can better than submit himself, 
To bring the grandeur of his nature out 
In glorifying conspicuity ; 
For to endure, with cool passivity, 
Such ills as crush who are of weaker stuff. 
Demands more heroism than to ride 
The cataract that leaps in frantic foam 
Among the savage rocks of strife. Be such 
A heroism yours ; and trust your Chief 
As in the past you have so nobly done, 
When darker prospects glowered. It is not mine 
To modify the law that governs their 
Fecundity through whom the Foe must be 
Antagonized ; nor is it yours to crowd, 
With practical obstructiveness, upon 
The subjects who are sensitive to brusk 
Assault. I underestimate not what 
To you will be involved in our departure. 
Inaction will be an ignoble rust 
That eats into the iron of the will, 
And the long-stretching of duraticjii — made 
Such by your seeing not its ending — an 
Obsession that will tantalize your hopes. 
But patience that endures with fortitude 
The storms of ill, will make your godhood shine 
Like stars through broken clouds ; for patience is 
A strength of will that holds emotion with 
An iron hand, and takes, without a flinch, 
The angry darts of time and circumstance; 



190 HANSON'S VISION 

And it adorns us more than doing of 
Conspicuous deeds. Then gird yourselves anew 
With courage for the test.' 

''In silence all 
Remained in place, as undecided what 
To think or do, when Moloch spake them thus : 

'Most worthy dignities! You know your past. 
You know what mind has planned for you, what skill 
Has led. Who knows of one who better could 
Have done ? Not I. Do you ? Who better knows 
Than he conditions on the orb we go 
To occupy ? Not I. Do you ? And who 
Knows reason why his judgment may not now 
Be trusted as in past? Not I. Do you? 
By silence you confess your ignorance. 
Then shall our ignorance be Wisdom's gag? 
If you would quarrel, be it not with him, 
But with the Power beyond, who is alone 
Responsible for all our ills, and vent 
On Him your blame in measure equal to 
Your disappointment, while, in stintless dole, 
You give our Leader gratitude and trust.' 

"Said Bacchus : 'Go with us in thought as we 
Shall be with you; and be assured that time 
Nor place can make us other than our past 
Has been.' 

"Said Belial: 'We shall break down to 
Rebuild upon the wreck the temple of 
Our hopes, in building which your help will be 
Required. How soon, the future only can 
Decide; but sooner than will please the Foe. 
In this be your encouragement, that while 



A POEM— CANTO X 191 

You wait He fears.' 

"Then Moloch added thus: 
T know not, care not, nor need you, more than 
To know that what we know not he who leads 
Us knows, and as he knows will do, which will 
Be well, howe'er to us it seem. In such 
A confidence I go, in such you wait. 
And confidence shall have its due reward.' 

"In silence lingering' for a space, they then 
Dissolved into invisibility, 
And ere they left the darkening envelope 
That wrapt the orb, the Leader spake them thus : 

'Mark well this circumanbient murk through which 
We pass, since it distinguishes our orb 
From all ; and note the course we take into 
The darksome deep. Now fix your gaze on that 
Conspicuous orb in whose effulgence is 
A central energy that both illumes 
And holds those circling orbs in its embrace. 
Let uis proceed. Note ye that smaller orb, 
Which, as compared, is insignificant. 
In that are glorious possibilities ; 
For not by magnitude may potencies 
Be gaged, nor values by appearances. 
Infinities of issue balance there, 
And as they turn this way or that may be 
The destinies of worlds, and ours it is 
To turn the balance. Let us now alight. 
Behold that group of form erect. In them 
There is the neucleus of the race through whom 
To operate against the Foe. Study 
Their scope and power of attribute, which is 



192 MANSON'S VISION 

Below our own. Become familiar with 
Their weaknesses, then tentatively try, 
With gentle caution, means to sway the will, 
And take your cue from each experiment. 
In nothing be imperative, nor use 
Antagonizing oughts or questionings, 
But, as the passions of the flesh incline. 
So urge the Will to grant indulgence. And 
Suggest such fantasies as will engage 
The mind to a preoccupancy that 
Excludes all adverse thoughts. Watch well 
The methods of the Foe ; yet meet them not 
With open clash but oblique subtilty 
That shoves aside the impulse of assault; 
And if in aught He shows efficiency. 
Devise a substitute that has a smack 
Of the original. And lubricate 
With patience every effort you may make. 
To have it creak not in Suspicion's ear.' " 



CANTO XI 



-13— 



CANTO XI 

"The stream of years had rippled o'er the rocks 

Of time with an unvarying sameness at 

The rendezvous. On earth the race increased, 

Filling the vacancy that death had made 

With one who duplicated in his life 

The lost ; and thence a stream descended that 

Expanded and o'erflowed the land; and the 

Monitions of the voiceful past had found 

The ear of Wisdom, and obedient feet 

Were walking in her ways, since God was their 

Supreme authority, and they so high 

In character they were enrolled among 

The chronicles of heaven as sons of God ; 

While those descended from the baser blood — 

Affected by hereditary taint 

And an environment unhelpful — thought 

Of God as One of power to dread, and by 

Mechanic service to appease, hence lacked 

In gratitude, in love and all that lifts 

The nature to its highest altitudes 

Of selfhood, cultivating qualities 

That but debase, progressing, age by age, 

In quick acceleration of descent. 

To this the underleaders lent their aid. 

While Satan plied the favored ones, to give 

The two a confluent character in ill. 

And so the years kept rippling on and on. 

Unnumbered by the fiends, save as those years 



196 MAN SON'S VISION 

Were chroniclers of onwardness. Not so 

With those they left upon the orb behind, 

To whom their every turn of thought became 

As though it were the record of a year; 

A year, a weary notv prolonged, with nought 

That gave relief to its monotony. 

Hence were they in a ferment of unrest, 

In mute impatience moving to and fro ; 

Until a common impulse drew them to 

The mount that seemed to bear the footprints of 

Their Chief, when, with the informality 

Of weariness, they vented thus their thoughts : 

Alphea — 

'Both Chief and leaders gone, and gone I ween 
Their thought of us, who drain the cup that they 
Have filled; or He opposed is greater than 
Them all with His impediments. Whiche'er 
It be, the draught is bitterness.' 
Zulali— 'So thought 

We of our Chief when gone alone, but he, 
Despite impediments, returned and brought 
Good cheer.' 

Alphea 'What one could do is not too great 

For all. When came the one not one was left; 
Then now, of all, that one might come and break 
The spell of our suspense, unless they so 
Have magnified themselves they think themselves 
Too great to think of us.' 

Selfar— "Belike they think 

We make our shift, and care not to return. 
If so it be, what then?' 



A POEM— CANTO XI ' 197 

Zulah — 

'Wait for th*e then, 

Nor fright us with thy phantoms of the mind.' 

Sclfar — 

'Wait for eternity to end, and when 
Our patience ends begin again to wait?' 
Ulaa— 

'Our patience has already found an end.' 

Mitcar — 

'Your murmurs unbeseem our dignity, 

And lack the fiber of heroic stuff, 

Since hurling javelins of aspersion in 

The dark. Think not our leaders' present is 

A renegade that shames their past, lest we 

Should shame ourselves by decking Ignorance 

In Wisdom's robes, exposing their misfit. 

The Power opposing is unseen. His arms 

In arsenals of secrecy, and now 

He may have roused to crowd their path with new 

Contingencies that keep our Chief at bay.' 

Dohel— 

'Thy words insinuate his ignorance.' 

Mitcar — 

'Not ignorance but knowledge limited. 

Or all the universe were ignorant. 
Since none there is to whom is nought unknown. 
He is a center and his knowledge a 
Circumference, implying bounds ; hence why 
His quest and waiting for developments.' 
Ritbali — 

'Think we of space, and view the whirling spheres 
As dusted through its blue immensity. 



198 MANSON'S VISION 

Millions we see of size exceeding this, 
While this exceeds the earth of which we heard. 
None, surely, thinks his knowledge compasses 
Their size and elements, their movements and 
The dominating force that makes them move 
In harmony, and every one, for aught 
We know, enswarmed with forms of life, and all 
These forms provided with a stafif of means 
On which to lean for their support. Not one 
Sole mind can have so vast a scope. Perhaps 
In every world there is a separate Power, 
Who reigns unquestioned in supremacy. 
And rules His subjects through subordinates, 
Himself in essence too sublimed for those 
Beneath to see.' 

Mitcar — 

'Assume that, He who reigns 
Reigns only o'er His individual orb. 
Who reigned o'er ours, I ween, took umbrage at 
The moot of our design in other worlds. 
And gave His jealousy a vent in our 
Expulsion thence ; in doing which belike 
He threw a pall of desolation o'er 
The scene, so making it a monument 
Of wrath, as this discarded orb may be 
The cast ofif shoe of some departed Power, 
Where at our option we may exercise 
Eternal liberty.' 

Omino — 

'Or liberty 

Without the exercise, which is, as all 

Have realized, imprisonment, and has 



A POEM— CANTO XI I99 

Occasioned this our meeting and deba.te.' 
Nutrah — 

'And what avails our meeting, our debate? 
Conditions have their own complexion, and 
We have no flattering rouge that can improve 
Them. Trust or distrust, we have got our dole, 
And Fortune cannot be cajoled to give 

Us better.' 

"While he spake one came in haste 

And thus addressed them : 

Belfer— 

'Hear ye all ; for I 

Have that to speak which all have need to hear. 

We made this orb our refuge in a stress, 

z\nd then our rendezvous, from which our Chief 

And leaders took their exit to prepare 

An entrance into Fortune's realm, where we 

Are hoping for a better state. Till then 

We need not blush to sit at Fortune's feet 

And eat the crumbs that fall from out her hand ; 

Which may be ampler than Impatience thinks. 

Our thought has been that we alone have found 

A refuge here, which thought intensifies 

Our sense of lonesomeness. But, rousing from 

The ennui of the thought, I ventured to 

Explore the other hemisphere, in which 

I made discovery of a spirit group 

Whose attributes have sameness, while beneath. 

Our own. Whether from some avenging Power 

They fled to find their safety here, or were 

In exile from some fairer world, I could 

No further than surmise. But while I gazed. 



200 MANSON'S VISION 

My mind thus rose on speculation's wings : 

Through some unseen, unknown affinity 

The worlds are parts of one great whole, the Power 

Sustaining them equivalent to a 

Volitional activity. Perhaps, 

Through some such power, ourselves, unconsciously, 

Were hither drawn. And others may be now 

As w"e were then or, in like distress like drawn, 

Have found this orb; yea, all existing things, 

Unconsciously, have spirit potency, 

And so possess occult affinity 

Susceptible of bursting from the bud 

Into the bloom of consciousness. Could but 

A sympathetic current pass along 

The nerves of universal being, we 

Might recognize the thoughts of all in all 

The worlds, and feel ourselves as particles 

Of an immeasurable body. Here 

An interruption came as I perceived 

The influx of still other spirits, whose 

Incoming had the greeting of a groan. 

Unseen, I heard them vocalize their woes 

And fears, which were as though some inner wrench 

Extorted them, and learned that erstwhile they 

Were denizens, in grosser guise, of some 

More genial orb till severed, spirit from 

The grosser element, and banished thence 

For contumacy of the ruling Power. 

Then came a quivering influence through the void, 

As though some startled world were shaking off 

Its lethargy and agitating space. 

When Fancy heard a faint abort of words. 



A POEM— CANTO XI 201 

Or flutter of half-feathered wings of sound, 

Which had a subtle quality that touched 

Me as an impact on my consciousness 

That they had come from where our leaders are, 

And were, belike, an earnest of results 

Obtained in conflict with opposing Power, 

Sent to assure us of successful strife. 

And stimulate our patience while we wait. 

For not the present rate of influx has 

Been longer that the operations of 

Our Chief ; which fact is tally to surmise.' 

Ferio — 

'Thy information plunges us into 
Perplexity, and tempts to questions that 
Are answerless. Be whence they may, they say 
By their laments that they are in duress. 
Assume them outcasts from the earth. The Power 
That cast them out, if hither guiding them, 
Has knowledge of this orb — perhaps of us — 
And may be gloating over our estate. 
If exiled and as refugees in space 
They happen an asylum here, does its 
Accursedness of aspect lure the eye 
So nothing else is seen? But since they come 
Continuous, does some representative 
Of Power convoy them hither as the clinch 
Of His anathema? These questions asked, 
The silence mocks our curiosity.' 

Omino — 

'But Belfer's Fancy waited on his Will, 
And heard unutterable things, and I 
Would honor Fancy's word if it were not 



202 MANSON'S VISION 

That Fact and Fancy often contradict 
Each other to the face.' 

Ferio — 

'Here Fancy has 
A Hcense from the Fact, and we may not 
Ignore the deep significance, though wrapt 
In circumstantial ambiguity.' 
Nut rah — 

T fain would hear what Belfer's Fancy heard, 
By capturing on the wing some telltale word, 
Or some intelligible sign that draws 
The lightning from a memory of their past.' 
Ferio — 

'And wouldst thou feast thine ears upon their groans?* 
Nutrah — 

'Why not? 'Twould give variety to ours. 
The rounded world of being, like this orb. 
Has hemispheres — its opposites — its poles, 
On which it never ceases to revolve. 
The bitter lends a sweetness to the sweet. 
Smiles are a bow upon a cloud of tears ; 
And laughter finds its nourishment in groans, 
Which are dead laughs that feed as dead leaves feed 
A tree.' 
Hiddo — 

'Here is a graveyard of dead laughs, 
Buried helMeep, with indications of 
Eternal fire.' 

Ferio — 

T have heard groans enough 
To send a shudder through the nerves of hell ; 
And I can think of them as coming out 



A POEM— CANTO XI 203 

From hell — the hell within us, and I fain 
Would hear no more,' 

Nutrah — 

'But I would cater to 

My curiosity. Moreover, what 

Those spirits know may be the half of what 

Ourselves would like to know; enough withal 

To be assurance of the other half.' 

Ferio — 

'Well, go thou if thou wilt; and when thy ears 
Are full, come back and laugh until our Chief 
Returns.' 

"Though leaving not their hemisphere, 
They now were listening for the footfall of 
Events at Fortune's door; listening, and all 
The more impatient since they felt a hope — 
Half brother to a certainty — that soon 
The deadlock of suspense would end and bring 
Relief. While thus upon their orb, the race 
On earth, in willful haste, was rushing to 
Inevitable doom. Three-score and up 
Of life was man's apportionment, but in 
Decades, not years, in which to utilize 
The stored-up treasures of experience with 
Such feats of progress as were otherwise 
Impossible, so with the fewer piers 
Bridging the history of the race. And as 
Mankind, the fiends had progress in their skill, 
Experience furnishing a key with which 
To open every door into the mind 
And heart, and with success grew diligent — 
The leaders, further to debase the more 



204 M ANSON'S VISION 

Degenerate ones ; their Chief, to stupefy 

The moral nature of the sons of God, 

With blandishments that through the flesh ensnare, 

And sophistries that cataract virtue's eye. 

So these were brought with torpid tolerance 

To view the sins of the degenerates, and, 

Obeying lust, merge life in life, and more 

Esteem the dross that pleased the flesh than gold 

Of character. As thus they more and more 

Indulged, the sensuous life and mingled strains 

Or blood developed prodigies of brawn 

And stature ; men renowned for physical 

Achievements — the incipient wonders of 

The world — and so until the spirit dwarfed 

And all were one in their depravity. 

But while the pestilential evil spread, 

Corrupting all besides, one healthy soul 

Withstood the taint, with uncorruptible 

Integrity ; and so his nature proved 

Its fitness, as the prophet of the age. 

To warn his fellows of impending doom ; 

For which the Infinite commissioned him. 

Thenceforth his voice rolled out the thunders of 

Inevitable woe, to bring a quake 

Of terror to the common heart, which lust 

Had petrified, and make their after-deeds 

A jury on themselves, to justify 

The doom pronounced. The arch foe heard it as 

A signal trump of danger and devised 

To hush the voice. For this he waited till 

The prophet, in a weary hour, was 'neath 

A mental sky of wintry clouds, when in 



A POEM— CANTO XI 205 

The inner chamber of his selfhood he 
Addressed him thus : 

Thou hast nobiHty 
Worthy to shine among the stars of Hfe, 
But art surrounded with a storm-belt of 
Iniquity impervious to thy light; 
Nor can thy constant warnings bring a tinge 
Of penitence. Nay, threats of ill will but 
Create a general enmity, without 
Averting doom or mitigating its 
Severity, and hence afflict thy soul 
To no avail. Then why distract thyself 
With fruitless toil? True, it is thine to warn. 
But read the duty in its inner and 
Pro founder sense. Thy life is eloquent 
To warn, and by retiring to the top 
Of some sky-piercing mount thy act will be 
Like nature's silent forces, mightier in 
Effects than sounds that make assault upon 
The ear. Thus three advantages will come, 
Linked hand in hand — escape from craftsman's toil. 
The wrath of the besotted multitude, 
And better prospect of thy purpose gained. 
But should they still unheed and bring the doom, 
The safety of thyself and thine will be 
Assured.' 

"So would he lure the patriarch 
To disobedience, hoping to involve 
Him in the general doom. But sooner had 
He smiled away the force of gravity; 
For he who shut himself within the ark 
Of truth when evil deluged all the souls 
Of men, would not be recreant now ; and hence 



2o6 MANSON'S VISION 

The watery deluge he prepared to meet. 

Of this the fiend became aware; and though 

He erst had noted not the flight of time, 

He now aroused to reahze a press 

Of urgency in these conditions to 

Engage the hosts behind, to counteract 

The influence of the prophet's voice, in which 

He saw at once both opportunity 

And danger — opportunity to chnch 

The coming doom, and danger should an ear 

Attend to the prophetic note. So forth 

He hastened to the rendezvous. And first 

He reconnoitered to inform himself. 

Upon one hemisphere he saw a throng 

Whose banishment from earth his guile had caused ; 

All in lament with imprecations on 

Their past. And on the other were his hosts, 

Wandering despondently about in search 

Of stimuli to high activity. 

But all in vain, until their very thoughts 

Became a weariness, their wishes a 

Vexatious exercise, their hopes a dream — 

A day dream, and eternity the day. 

While viewing them, he saw the danger of 

Emotional extreme when called to the 

Activities of earth; hence he prepared 

A caution in advance, and then disclosed 

His presence as a star emerging from 

The twilight into view, when suddenly 

A shout went up as from a sinking ship 

When comes a sail in sight. Rank behind rank 

They thronged, breathless in their expectancy, 



A POEM— CANTO XI 2ffj 

And soon were silent as an echo's ghost, 
When thus he spake : 

'Ye gods whose patience has 
Endured a strain that only gods could bear, 
The day whose dawning strained the eye of Hope 
Is bright upon the earth, inviting you 
To strenuous effort in our glorious cause ; 
Which invitation T have brought to greet 
Your ears. But know conditions first. The race 
Through which we strike the unseen Power responds 
In tottering weakness to assault. Spirits 
They are in gross insensate stuff akin 
To that of this unsightly orb ; our task 
To give it a preponderating weight, 
Creating and developing desires 
That, as indulged, will make the spirit an 
Obnoxious thing to Him who rules, who has 
Already disenrobed and banished in 
His wrath unnumbered trophies of our skill ; 
To whither we have no concern to say. 
Perceiving that our influence rules the race, 
He thunders hopelessly a general doom, 
Contingent on a penitential mood 
Whose outcome will redound to our reverse. 
We aim to neutralize the influence of 
The threat, and so facilitate the doom; 
A work in which you may participate. 
In the rebound of change from this your state 
To that, calm judgment must prevail, to keep 
Your eagerness in due restraint, lest it 
Should pass when Prudence bids you halt. To groups 
Of you the work will be distributed. 



2o8 HANSON'S VISION 

So every group will have its part ; while on 

The whole a general influence operates, 

As gravitation in the universe, 

To unify in effort and result. 

Success depends on wariness, plying 

Your arts with a persistent tactfulness ; 

For too obtrusive or precipitant 

Attempt may rouse your victims to resent 

Your efforts, so defeating all your hopes. 

Disturb them not with reasonings. Suggest 

No thought of right or wrong, but silently 

Assume that everything is in a state 

That needs no change, save increase in the means 

Of its indulgence, lest you should disturb 

Their slumber and unlock their ears to hear. 

Their hearts to heed, a warning voice. Should one 

Incline to hear and heed, divert his thoughts 

To coddling of his sensuous tastes. What more 

You need to learn your leaders will instruct. 

Farewell, then, to the past and hence with me.' 

"Then came a whirr of sound and exodus 
In simultaneous flight, as though each one 
Had been a feather, and the whole a wing 
Of mighty moving force that bore them on 
To earth. So came they, but unseen by all 
Save spirit eyes ; and soon, with eager zeal, 
Not one of any rank but was engaged 
As though the task to wreck a world were all 
His own. While thus nefariously beset, 
Mankind were not abandoned to the foe, 
But legions of angelic ministers 
Touched keys of motive to induce the will 



A POEM— CANTO XI 209 

To resonate in harmony with law ; 

Showed dangers darker than the heart of Night, 

And blessings radiant with the Hght of heaven ; 

Those to deter and these allure. But the 

Response was discord fit to quiver on 

The nerves of hell. And so the streams that first 

Had flowed apart were mingled, foul and pure. 

Until the two were in pollution one ; 

A loathsome residue the all of the 

Once pure original, their very names 

Denoting their degeneracy. When the 

Monitions heard within were thus despised, 

A warning voice assailed the outer ear, 

In which prophetic thunder rolled the threat 

Of universal doom. For six-score years 

It rumbled, but they heeded not — nay, grew 

More obdurate instead of penitent. 

'Mid the debacle of depravity 

The warning one and family alone 

Remained allegiant; he a lonely rock 

In a tempestuous ocean, battered by 

The billows through a starless night, giving 

In deeds a concrete evidence of faith. 

Timber he brought and all appurtenants. 

Of which to frame a prodigy of skill — 

At once a refuge and an epitaph. 

Days, weeks and months were counted into years, 

But with unflagging industry the work 

Went on, the hammer-stroke commingling with 

His voice in eloquent appeal. Beams found 

Their place as words that write a felon's fate. 

Then motley multitudes came thronging as 



210 HANSON'S VISION 

The work progressed, to scoff and jeer and sling 

Opprobrious epithets, or wisely wag 

The philosophic head, cite Nature's law 

And precedent to testify against 

The prophet's word, and then pass idly on. 

The years became decades, and, one by one. 

Grew gray with age and slept the wakeless sleep, 

Until the twelfth took up its gavel for 

The end. The nautical leviathan 

Was now complete and ready for its charge. 

When Nature heeded more than man, and sent 

Her varied representatives to find 

A refuge from the scath whose coming steps 

Were near. More thoughtful ones beheld the strange 

And ominous phenomenon, while yet 

On hesitation's brink they stood in weak 

Timidity that feared the eye of man. 

The Day lay wearily on pillowy clouds, 

And left grim portents on the western rim. 

But revelers filled the ear of Night with shouts 

And riot until, surfeited at length 

With gluttony and lust, the thousands lay 

And snored, oblivious of the hours, in deep 

Forgetfulness. Now Mercy's door was closed, 

And Justice held his rod above the world 

As he of old o'er Egypt's parted sea. 

When from their fortresses burst furious winds. 

And sent their cohorts howling o'er the deep. 

The sullen clouds in threatening blackness rolled 

Till mountain bigness bowed them toward the earth. 

Then zigzag lightnings rent them in their wrath. 

And growled in thunder till the awe-struck plains, 



A POEM— CANTO XI 211 

In sympathetic unison, shuddered — 

Groaned — sank, obedient to the tenor of 

The threat ; and e'en the mountains bent the knee 

In reverence for the Will Supreme, gushing 

Their tribute to the cataclysmic woe, 

Till man and beast 'and reptile struggled in 

Promiscuousness and terror to ascend 

The mountain sides. Dripping, panting, up, up 

They clomb. Rills, rivulets and torrents dashed 

Obstruction. But the hungry roar behind, 

Beneath, around, had maddening urgency. 

At length they reached the highest peaks, men, weak 

In heart as babes, cursing their folly and 

Imploring Mercy's ruth. Women beside 

The beast of glaring eye that swiveled round 

And round in desperate stress, unmindful of 

Each other's presence, danger banishing 

Ferocity and fear. Still pursuing, the 

Avenging terror lapped their feet, 

Rose to the knee and followed to the waist. 

Then plunged the beasts and struggled in the throes 

Of helplessness. Higher — higher — higher ! 

Distracted mothers screamed and held their babes 

Aloft. The gurgling water choked their screams. 

They sank — rose — sank. A feeble wail and all 

Was hushed, except the swish and murmur of 

The waves that hummed, in dread monotony, 

The requiem of a world. Far as the race 

The rushing ruin went, and so fulfilled 

The fateful prophecy. Where now the scoff, 

The jeer, the well-slung epithet of crowds? 

The philosophic incredulity 



212 MANSON'S VISION 

And revels that infernalized the night? 
The answer, written by the hand of God, 
Was in a dead world where the live had been 



CANTO XII 



CANTO XII 

"The fiends were hovering o'er the watery waste, 

Viewing the dead world as a prophecy 

Upon the scroll of time that soon would be 

Fulfilled in grandeur of achievement that 

Would recompense their toil and skill, beyond 

What Hope had dared to dream of, knowing not 

That in the living was a germ of strength 

That by the various processes of time 

Would evolute a godlike character; 

In which their ignorance and confidence 

They felt the thrill that victors feel when borne 

With bannered pomp from sanguine fields. And most 

Of all, since over all, their Chief was in 

Triumphant jubilance to think himself 

The strategist whose plans and movements had 

Secured results that mocked the efforts of 

The Infinite, of whom his estimate 

Was thenceforth minified, augmenting 

The audacity of his contemptuous hate. 

Nor these results alone he counted as 

His gains, but in his triumph's glorious hour 

He saw his hosts more closely bound to him 

In confidence. What more could be desire 

To glorify himself? What more to prove 

His power to wield the possibilities? 

What more to open vistas to a sphere 

That widened his supremacy? For this 

He had adventured everything, and each 



2i6 HANSON'S VISION 

New tribute to his skill intensified 

The burning fury of his pride and his 

Ambition to attain. Now in the flush 

Of an exulting- egotism thus 

He framed his thoughts : 'Glorious in power art thou, 

O Lucifer! But where is Amplifer, 

And Gabriel where, with their prophetic threats ? 

And where the labors of the servile host 

That strove against me with a sanguine zeal ? 

Where is their mighty Master's confidence, 

And where the Seed to bruise the serpent's head? 

Where are they now ? Let them come hovering o'er 

This glorious scene, tell their success, display 

Their trophies, compliment themselves, and chant 

The glories of omnipotence ! Here is 

The sweet revenge of love — ay, love that loves 

To smite a wrong and pay its compliments 

To Justice. O great Lucifer ! Who knows 

What eminence eternity reserves 

For thee? What secret talisman may give 

Thee access to the hoarded potencies, 

And leave thee mightier than Omnipotence? 

But that thou art within thy normal sphere. 

Omnipotence is regnant in the realm 

Of matter, mind in that of spirit. Here 

Omnipotence stretched out a wrathful arm. 

But I provoked the wrath that moved the arm. 

Thus is omnipotence the lackey of 

My will, when mind and matter measure strength. 

But I must share their gratulations who 

Have shared my toils.' 

"So saying, he disclosed 



A POEM— CANTO XII 217 

His presence in the void above the clouds, 
And signaled to the rendezvous, when, as 
The shadow of a storm-swept cloud, they all 
Evanished, soon to congregate about 
Him on his wonted eminence. He still 
Was in the human form etherealized, 
Its majesty so magnified that it 
Was a suggestion of an infinite 
Reserve, robed in a radiating light 
Indefinite as rainbow fringes. There 
He stood, his countenance enbeamed with smiles, 
His eye aglow with pride ; and in the sea 
Of faces he beheld a kindred pride. 
Thus with exultant confidence he spake : 
'Imperial dignities ! Immortal powers ! 
Gods glory-crowned ! How, how shall I compress 
Within the rigid bounds of speech that which 
Demands a measureless extent of praise? 
I would that words might have the size of worlds. 
And I a lightning fluency to send 
Them thunder-footed into space, beyond 
The most suburban orbs, in publishing 
The story of your triumphs. Mightier are 
Ye than the One that our credulity 
Of confidence had thought of as supreme — 
Creators both of heaven and hell. For what 
Is heaven but that within yourselves, the flush 
Of satisfaction as the springtide of 
Your efifort brings the freightage of success? 
And what is hell but to expend one's thought 
And energy in great attempt, and have 
The effort stranded in defeat? Such is 



2i8 MANSON'S VISION 

Our golden freight, and such His wreck of hopes. 

Well are you jubilant with such reward, 

And well have faith in our ability, 

While having the omnipotence of mind. 

Grant that the Foe can wield the physical 

Immensities to our discomfort. We 

Can more than match upon the higher plane, 

By means that make the edge of his designs 

Retund, as demonstrated by results, 

With which the ages crown us with a crown 

Be jeweled fit to dazzle Memory's eye; 

The brightest gem of all — a buried world. 

He doubtless had designed, by gradual steps, 

The race to so develop as to reach 

An ideal contemplating which His mind 

Would rest in sweet complacency, but which 

Disturbing we provoked a curse whose scath 

Is an engulfment of His handiwork. 

Thus we have made a pact with Death, who serves 

Two masters in the name of one, and gives 

To us the better service of the two. 

Exult then as the victor only can, 

And see in this incentive to renew 

The hope of forcing Him to yet respect 

Our power sufficiently to interfere 

No more with our benevolent designs. 

Or fail we there, we still can hate the wrong. 

Resist the power, defy the Doer, and 

From out the storehouse of experience bring 

Our burnished arms and wage persistent war. 

By His example doubly justified, 

Even to wrecking of a thousand worlds. 



A POEM— CANTO XII 219 

If needed to preserve our liberty ; 

For that withheld, existence has no worth. 

And could we break the pillars that sustain 

The universal frame, and crush the whole 

With one tremendous crash, it were as naught 

When wounded Justice calls to be avenged, 

As now, in a pathetic agony, _ 

He calls. For what can He opposing us 

But be oppressor to the boundary of 

His rule ; to whom a change of state, even 

To none existence, were a boon? That which 

He is He must be, by necessity 

Of nature, alwheres and always ; therefore 

To be alwheres, always opposed, though in 

The doing we should wear the sandals of¥ 

The feet of time. Belike ye noted, with 

Myself, an inkle on the trestleboard 

Of this debacle a design to rake 

Success from out the mire of His defeat, 

By preservation of a germ, from which 

To multiply the race anew. Such a 

Design forecasts an opportunity 

To further glorify ourselves; for which 

We must prepare, nor wait until our chance 

Grows rusty on the hinge. Conditions are 

Half brother to the first I found, plus a 

Corrupting taint where then was innocence, 

And devastation where was fruitfulness. 

Here, then, we have a coin with fortune's face 

On one side, on the other superscribed 

Its value in the characters of toil. 

The curse is poison in the marrow of 



220 M ANSON'S VISION 

The race, and hitherto its action wrought 
Paralysis of will, and with the flight 
Of ages more virulent grew. But he 
Who represents the dot remaining of 
The race, by long conformity has formed 
A habit supplemental to the will, 
By which it monishes to wariness. 
As well attempt to poise a universe 
Upon a fingertip as all this host 
To concentrate our efforts on the dot 
That sole remains. As with the primal pair, 
I must alone approach this remnant on 
The tiptoe of insinuating skill, 
And captivate them unawares ; to do 
Which will combine pure delicacy and 
Stark daring, since 'twill be to singly meet 
The Foe, and put my shoulder underneath 
The burden of a world. But seeing that 
He clutches, in the frenzy of His hope, 
At this new shadow, and His pleasure is 
To test our powers anew, and by the test 
Renew the strife that gloriously redounds- 
To His reverse and our success, I still 
Would keep our powers in exercise, and add 
New trophies to the old.' 

"Here Belial gave 
A sudden thought this voice: 

'The Foe Himself 
Creates an exigence that may defeat 
His purpose, while it ministers to ours. 
This family He looks on as a gem 
Enclosed within a casket, which is but 



A POEM— CANTO XII 221 

A prison house where Famine waits his-chance 
To seize their vitals with a fiery grip, 
As there, becalmed upon a shoreless sea, 
They dole their substance to the final crumb. 
In that Omnipotence has overreached. 
Or should the earth, unshrouded, wake to life, 
She will but mock them with an empty hand. 
And Famine finish what he had begun. 
Then farewell every hope that hovered there.' 

"Then Bacchus, with a sudden impulse, thus : 
'Great Chief and ye triumphant ones ! those words 
Are worthy of their godly parentage, 
And rouse my memory thus to tell its tale : 

I had a dream; and in my dream 
The stars were telling of the time 
When Earth was in her virgin prime, 

Her face with blushing hopes agleam. 

I dreamt again ; and now they told 

How Earth was wrinkled with her cares, 
And in the stress of her affairs 

The blood of hope was growing cold. 

Again I dreamt, and heard them tell 
That she was clutching at her past, 
And thought she held a hand at last, 

Which proved to be the hand of Hell. 

My eyes then opened, when to view 
Was One above her deathbed bent, 
With saddened look and in lament, 

Who saw my presence and withdrew. 



222 MANSON'S VISION 

'Those dreams, I ween, need no interpreter. 

They are a prophecy, and prophecy 

Is history in embryo. O Chief ! 

I scent the odors of the spring. I see 

The future bursting as a bud. I see 

The bloom that holds a promise in its heart. 

I touch the fruit, which mellows at my touch. 

I grasp the fruit and lo ! it is a world. 

Ay, it is ours, by right of conquest ours.' 

"Here Mammon hastened with his word. 

'We know 
Not all the possibilities of force 
To act on matter in extremity ; 
And here is an extremity that gives 
The wheels of His omnipotence a creak. 
But should He lift the watery covering from 
The earth ; should Famine gnash his teeth 
In disappointed rage, and he who has 
Withstood our utmost skill, and breasted with 
Persistency the influence hurtled by 
A world, remain still rooted as this mount. 
Immovable, he — even he — must sink 
Beneath the burdening curse into the maw 
Of Death, and less combative ones succeed. 
But should the strife continue, age on age, 
Until the axle of eternity 
Shall creak, I reck not. Then the problem of 
Activity will be forever solved.' 

"Then Satan interposed this final word : 
'If is a pivot where conjectures turn 
This way or that. But while revolving they 
Remain unchanged in their relation to 



A POEM— CANTO XII 223 

The if, leaving us still in ignorance. 

Conjecture as we may, some if oi force 

Is in reserve to place these prisoned ones 

Obstructively across our path. Yet Hope 

May dare to meet the challenge of Despair; 

For he intended to obstruct will find 

At best a desolate environment, 

And while in lonesomeness he languishes, 

With naught provoking the belligerency 

That conflict breeds, I may induce him to 

Indulge in ease, as one ensconced in full 

Security, and in the drowsiness 

Of an unguarded hour expose himself, 

Becoming vulnerable to assault. 

But let events come jostling as they may. 

The future, like the past, will make demands 

For patience joined to watchfulness, and zeal 

To wariness, which, duly exercised. 

Will sway the helm as generations drift 

Adown the current of the years, and bring 

The race again into the rapids of 

His wrath. So may the eons move and we 

Acquire more glory as they go. But for 

The present, what? As at the first, ye here 

Remain, but not in like inaction, since 

Are many trophies of your past exploits, 

On whom to further exercise your skill, 

And by its exercise keep burnishing 

Your powers, while making them a blacker blot 

Upon the scroll continually before 

His eyes who gladly would avoid the sight. 

But here or there, our ingenuity 



224 MANSON'S VISION 

Must pierce the heart of every obstacle, 
And in the meanwhile let events evolve.' " 

My mind, through all thy narrative, I said, 
Has been amazed that spirits great as they 
Knew not the impotence of finity 
Against infinity that so they dared 
To feel and speak, to act and hope. Said he: 

"The Infinite to finite mind is its 
Capacity to think infinity. 
But with increased capacity to think 
Was tendency to magnify themselves 
And minify the Infinite; and so 
They bridged the gulf of their disparity, 
And on receiving His rebuke became 
In will oppugnant as in mind obtuse. 
Men minify the Infinite, then dare 
To willfully oppose, or, since He is 
Unseen, deny the fact of His existence. 
Then on the soul descends a starless night. 
In which they sleep and dream of castles of 
Security. And so the fiends, from least 
To greatest, in gradation, egoize 
In inverse ratio to their concept of 
The Infinite, who works at the extremes 
Of power. Nor man, nor fiend, nor cherub near 
The throne can measure what He is or does 
At either pole. Man pries into the depths 
Of space through tubes that multiply the worlds. 
Should he increase their power a hundredfold, 
A thousandfold, what then? He would but see 
A part. But He who made them all exceeds 
Them all. In them is manifest His power. 



A POEM— CANTO XII 225 

The other pole displays His mind in the 

Diversities of form and life; the least 

Of which would tax the best developed mind 

Of man, who knows not all the problems in 

A grain of sand — its composition and 

Divisibility — or in the air, 

A sound, a ray of light — all vehicles 

Of the almighty energy — and less 

Of life; its multiplicity of mode. 

With its adapted means of sustenance, 

In plant, tree, polyp, animalcule, mite, 

The lifeful atmosphere and teeming seas; 

Bird, reptile, beast, and up to man. 

But Satan saw these physical displays 

With countlessfold more comprehensive mind. 

Yet were they all to him but evidence 
Of physical omnipotence, himself 
As greater in the mental attributes. 
Could he have seen the Maker as he saw 
His works, then made comparison, he had 
Beheld himself in insignificance. 
Yet that, though holding in a bondage of 
Restraint, had been no guaranty of love. 
But he was blind to their disparity. 
Hence had an overestimate of self, 
Which was the germ of an ambition that 
Presumed on insubordinance. And thus 
His nature were contaminated in 
Conception and volition, thought and deed. 
All aggravated by the ghastly pomp 
Of that catastrophe, on which he gazed 
With an infernal gloat, while thinking this 



226 MANSON'S. VISION 

An earnest of success that shadowed forth 

The end ; whereas 'twas but a quaver of 

The providential shaft that yet should reach 

The mark. The purpose of the Infinite 

Is orbed, and moves in the ecliptic of 

His mind, directed by the gravity 

Of will. Ere coalesced the elements 

Of earth, the thoughts and deeds of man were in 

His eye as human memory visions what 

Is gone ; so sure that no contingency 

Was in the womb of the unwrought ; for one 

Contingency implies the possible 

Miscarriage of His plans, and this that He 

Is fallible, which cannot be. Thus He 

Ordained whatever has been, is, and is 

To be. Yet had the recreants no excuse, 

Since under no necessity to sin 

More than compulsion to prevent. Hence He 

Removed them as the curseful cause, and kept 

The faithful one to be the father of 

The second world, whose end will foot 

Results in human destiny. And not 

Till then will failure and success be seen, 

Since they were measured by finalities." 



CANTO XIII 



CANTO XIII 

My thoughts were lost amid the watery scene, 
When he resumed : 

"To earth the future was 
A pall upon her hopes, a midnight to 
Her eye, and rested as a seal upon 
Her lip; for not a chirp, a trill, a bleat 
Was heard, or seen a blade or burgeoning 
Of tree or vine, or aught besides a vast 
Expanse of sea and sky. Then, re-enrobed, 
She entered on a honeymoon of life. 
The slime that lay on plain to mountain top 
Gave place to sward, to leafy tresses, to 
Chromatic splendors and the impulses 
Of irrepressible activity 

That thrilled the nerves of all things animate. 
The arch foe came, nefarious in intent. 
As to a second Eden, hoping he 
Might duplicate results, with subtler arts 
To meet experience of the human with 
Experience of the fiend, since the few earth 
Replenishers had ventured from the heights 
Of Ararat to form the nucleus of 
A second worldi And first he sought to snare 
The patriarch, in manner not to shock 
Him with suggestions of an overt act, 
But with insinuations to the flesh, 
To lull him into inactivity. 
Hence in the midday's enervating heat, 



230 , MANSON'S VISION 

When soporific vapors filled the air, 

As 'neath a shady canopy he lay. 

His thoughts as bubbles lilting dreamily, 

His mind was led to this soliloquy: 

'The world that was is not. The agony 

Of strife with obdurates is past, and from 

The chaos of ungoldiness rolls forth 

A world of order, righteousness and peace. 

Quiet — peace — rest. How sweet to have the mind 

Soft-pillowed in repose — repose well earned — 

The husbandman's repose at close of day, 

Sipping the juice fresh from the winepress of 

A better time, its lees left all behind. 

Let others face tomorrow's toils.' When came 

At length dusk-sandaled Eve, dark-mantled Night 

And crystal-coronated Morn, rousing 

Whate'er had life to feel the general thrill 

Of Nature's wakefulness, the earth seemed full 

Of laughter and activity, and in 

A glad rebound of soul the very breeze 

Had found a voice for him and said within : 

'The ark was all thy earth ; all earth is now 

Thy ark, and thou its captain on the sea 

Of time. Brave in the past, thy future calls 

For skill. The storm that put thy courage to 

The test is o'er, and death in one vast shroud 

Has wrapt the mutineers, while trade winds fill 

Thy sails. Then watch thy chart and compass, nor 

Let once thy hand be ofif the helm, that so 

The prow, through the long stretch of ages, may 

Be pointed toward the port of safety, where 

The treasures of the Infinite are stored.' 



A POEM— CANTO XIII 231 

When heard, the voice was as a mandate ,to 

The soul, in which he read the parable 

Of duty, then with strenuousness obeyed. 

Another year. The earth brought forth with more 

Than wonted lavishment. Luxuriant vines 

Were loaded with enpurpled wealth, which to 

Preserve engaged the patriarch's care. But time 

Said, Presto ! Then corruption's wand infused 

A sparkling fire into the vat, when, with 

Incautious freedom, he imbibed and lost 

Himself in inebriety, which gave 

The fiend a chance to turn the key of craft 

Within a pliant member of the home, 

WHiose nature he had fitted to despise 

A filial sanctity, so that he viewed 

With levity what reverence had deplored. 

As tells one drop the saltness of the sea, 

So told his act the nature of the man. 

Which in the universal leprosy 

Received contamination's toueh, and now 

Incurred a father's lasting curse, who saw 

With a prophetic instinct what the deed 

Foreboded in the influence that would flow 

Adown the years. More clearly Satan saw, 

Whose guile had brought the fatal touch, and now 

Devised to spread the virus through the race. 

For this he made his presence known upon 

His wonted mount to the illustrious four, 

Who hailed him with expressions of delight, 

As weary watchers hail the blush of dawn, 

And stood as courtiers in the presence of 

A king, with reverence for his rank, when thus 



232 HANSON'S VISION 

He gratified their ears: 'Victorious ones! 

Your memories need no waking nudge to bring 

A vision of the conflict past, with all 

The glory of the triumphs gained ; triumphs 

That are emblazoned on the scroll of time, 

To last when marble crumbles into dust — 

Ay, to mock eternity's defacing hand ; 

All which the future offers to encrown. 

New harvests wait the sickle of your skill, 

For which I need instruct but little how 

To reap. He who has been the Foe's one hope 

And our one obstacle has passed away, 

And less resistant ones remain, to bend 

Like reeds upon a river's marge before 

The onsweep of the Power that overwhelmed 

The parent world. Already I have made 

A pliant one succumb, attracting to 

Himself a lightning cuhse that shatters all 

The pillars of his nature and entails 

A helpless weakness on, his progeny. 

Inkling withal the possibilities, 

Inviting us to their development ; 

For in this weaker one's example is 

A lever influence on whose end we need 

But press to move the others as we will. 

Indulged in a debauch of wanton thought, 

It will debilitate their moral powers. 

For this the new environment affords 

The means. Earth's lap is full beyond their need. 

The valleys bend beneath the burden of 

Their fruits ; the plains are decked with gold, the hills 

Ablaze with prodigal magnificence. 



A POEM— CANTO XIII 233 

And they sole heirs to all ; the consciousness 
Of which creates a sense of dignity, 
The wings of whose ambition flutter to 
Ascend into an atmosphere of great 
Exploit. So is a premium put upon 
Our skill, since in the realm of mind we meet 
The Foe on vantage ground. The prospect of 
Our conflict on this higher plane thrills me 
As old wine fires the blood of men, and I 
Am full-armed in resolve to make the past 
An eclipsed orb compared with that to come. 
Prepare ye, then, for deeds of glory that 
Will make your godhood shine more lustrously. 
Of our designs inform your followers, and 
Enjoin their patience to endure your absence; 
Then back to earth, where I will more instruct.' 

"That said, he disappeared, and soon the four 
Gave signal to their hosts, who thronged the mount, 
Mingled promiscuously in haste, alike 
In high expectancy. Belial first brake 
The silence, eager to be heard, and thus : 

'Triumphant dignities ! Ye well deport 
Yourselves when Patience lays her yoke upon 
Your neck, to draw the heavier burdens of 
The years, and well ye do when Courage calls 
For the heroic deed. To this your past 
Has unimpeachable attest, and is 
A pledge to Fortune for the coming need ; 
A need now knocking on the door of time. 
Our Chief is once again upon the earth, 
And bids your leaders, as before, prepare 
The way for your renewed activities, 



234 MANSON'S VISION 

In which new jewels will be added to 
The diadem of your success ; for which 
We are about to leave the rendezvous.' 

"Here Bacchus thus : 'To leave you, Belial says. 
But you will be with us and we with you, 
As in two separate yet connected rooms, 
Whose walls, since memory takes no note of space, 
Are all in view, your lack no more than that 
Of lost activity, which there, not here, 
Must be renewed. And as to patience, it 
Is a familiar robe that we have worn 
Until it seems to be our outer self. 
Which Hope keeps brushing clean from dust. 
So will you prove it till our Chief returns 
And bids you don the robes of royalty. 
Therefore we only say, as humans do, 
Good night, anon to pay good morning, with 
A smile. Good night and pleasant dreams.' 

"At once 
They seemed to float away like scudding clouds. 
And soon were on the earth, where they beset 
The remnant of the race, which showed again 
Diversity of character, while all 
Were one in plans for solidarity. 
There the infernals, ravenous as beasts 
At scent of blood, looked into depths of an 
Imaginary hell, in which the few 
Were multiplied to millions, writhing in 
The fiery flames of hate, and every one 
A fury, raging to annihilate 
His fellows, and the whole as welded to 
A thunderbolt of power defiant of 
The Infinite. To kindle, fan and add 



A POEM— CANTO XIII 235 

Combustive passion unto passion till 

The roaring- flames of rivalry should make 

The imaginary veritable hell, 

Become at once their purpose and their aim. 

Satan had seen man's mental restlessness 

From the first necromancer calling up 

The spirit of melodious sound ; from him 

Who made the family a fortressed realm; 

From him who forced from earth the secret of 

Metallic strength ; from him who utilized 

That strength and gave the nail and cunning tool 

A mission as the agent of his mind ; 

From the conceptive and constructive skill 

In unifying of the divers parts — 

The base of architectural skill — 

In due proportion to the object sought; 

On, on to emulation's last device 

To fill the niches of necessity, 

And on to the stupendous miracle 

Of skill that held earth's prophecy of life. 

The wonder of it all was in his mind, 

And in mankind the spirit of it all, 

As a momentive impulse to exceed 

The grand achievements of the past, of which 

Aware, he called the leaders, to instruct 

Them in the cardinals of craft. Above 

A mountain's hoary head they met, when he 

Addressed them thus: 

'Welcome to strife renewed. 
To glories and rewards outshining all 
The past as stars outshine the pearls upon 
A meadow's breast. Our skill is challenged by 
The new conditions of the race, which, as 



236 MANSON'S VISION 

Already said, is fledged for flight ; a flight 

That would not stop beneath the stars, and hence 

Invites to conflict on a higher plane. 

Here is our cue — to daze them with a sense 

Of independence that will make them feel 

A goddish greatness, as in monarchy 

O'er all the earth, whose might, in mind and thew, 

Can mock the whimsies of the elements 

And do most goddishly. Unite them, then, 

In schemes that tittilate their vanity 

Till aliens to, and then despisers of, 

The Unseen Power ; and this by such oblique 

Suggestion that, while following, they will think 

Themselves unled; in doing which ourselves 

Will feel a greatening of ourselves. The what 

And how of all are in the clay, and Time 

Will furnish molds to fashion them.' 

"As thus 
Instructed, they inflated more the bloat 
Of men's ambition, till assertive ones 
Ignored the Infinite, to make themselves 
The pivot of a universal power, 
And in imagined independency. 
Planned what foreshadowed coming pyramids 
And their affinities in massiveness. 
A tower should cleave the clouds, in strength 
To mock the wrathful elements and the 
Keen claws of time, immortalizing them 
In fame's eternal chronicles. Stone they 
Had not. Albeit ingenuity 

Balked not but, stepping o'er the fact, passed on. 
Making their difficulties but a spur 



A POEM— CANTO XIII 237 

To urge their efforts to the goal. Thjen in 

Their hand the clay became a substance that 

Could look upon the grave of centuries, 

And block on block was laid and tier on tier, 

Till all exulted in assured success. 

And Satan, who was father of the thought, 

And underleaders, who gave stimulus 

To zeal, rejoiced as those who had the goal 

In sight ; when He who rules the elements 

And could have scattered all their works in dust, 

Came silent as the breath of Pestilence, 

Bringing confusion to the mind and lip. 

When they who were as tribes, in trine descent, 

Were separated of necessity. 

As vocal limitations made demand, 

And so became a triple eponym. 

Thence to pursue the course of destiny, 

Each having all the knowledge of the whole, 

And a momentive impetus from past 

Attempt. Scattering and multiplying still, 

Developing hereditary traits, 

With variations in a unity, 

They so were fitted for distinctive spheres, 

To make the rounded manhood of the race. 

At first were emulations to excel 

In all that glorified their vanity. 

Then emulations gendered jealousies, 

And jealousies developed into strifes ; 

When their ambition was to monarchize, 

Their greater intellects but making them 

The greater foes. Still lingered with them all 

A dreamy recollection of the lore 



238 MANSON'S VISION 

That showed Heaven's autograph, in which was truth 

Enough to furnish raw material for 

A He ; though one alone, as heir, preserved 

The heirloom with a reverent trust, as men 

Now proudly note the incidents that shed 

A luster on their heraldry. Mankind, 

When deadened thus in sympathy, and with 

An eclipse o'er the face of truth, trampled 

On weakness with a ruthless foot, and heard 

A music in its groans that charmed the ear, 

Then danced itself to dizziness; from which 

Initial brutishness the laws of men 

Receive their animus, and oft are void 

Of pity and the mollifying sense 

Of brotherhood ; and Justice, seated on 

A bench of ice, his heart a frozen thing, 

An iron gantlet on his hand, smites those 

Laid prostrate at his feet and calls it War, 

And decks the horror with a jeweled robe, 

Then chariots it with pomp and trumpet blare. 

So Satan, gloating o'er the woes of men, 

Would have his waiting hosts participate 

In earth's infernal carnival; with which 

Intent he visited the rendezvous. 

The farthest scattered saw and hailed him as 

His presence he disclosed ; more welcome now 

To them by the long fast of absence and 

The feast that expectation spread before. 

When died the echoes of their long applause, 

He thuswise thrilled their hearts : 

'Ye loyal ones 
Who never fail when Duty's trumpet calls, 



A POEM— CANTO XIII 239 

I seize that trumpet, and I blow a blast 

That would arouse a mummy into life — 

A mummy, and your hopes are mummies that 

I wish to have unswathed and vitalized. 

Your chiefs earth garlands with the laurels of 

Achievement, and invites you all to share 

The glory of triumphant deeds. Mankind, 

Of which a germ alone was left, is now 

A scattered multitude like noxious weeds. 

They planned to have a local fixity, 

Like beasts that huddle fearful of a storm, 

When I incited to activity 

That set at nought the will of Him unseen — 

Ay,- smote the cheek of His authority. 

That roused His choler to avenge itself 

Upon their tongues, so alienizing them 

In speech, and parting them in radii toward 

The earth's periphery, from which they strike, 

Antagonistic each to all and all 

To each. To keep them in belligerency 

Will be your task, performing which you will 

Be moving forward toward the goal where Hope 

Has filled our cornucopia with success. 

Already they are mad-eyed, glaring their 

Animosities at prompt. Ay, they 

Contend with mutual hate that sees not, hears 

Not, seeks not aught but how to serve itself. 

Hence, as I say, 'tis ours to widen still 

The breach; to use them as so many fists 

With which to smite each other to the fall; 

A feat that well might give the bones of Death 

A rattle of delight, to think we thus 



240 MANSON'S VISION 

Compel the Maker to behold His works 

Incited to antagonistic strife, 

With clash and clang- and havoc of 

Infuriate hate doing the way we prompt; 

As yet they shall with more efficiency. 

To such a prospect what have you to say?' 

"Their answer was a thunder of assent. 
'Ready !' 

'We tingle with desire for it.' 
'To earth !' 

'To earth you say. Then follow me.' 
"That said, with vapor lightness he arose, 
When silence turned into a breath of sound. 
As when a pinion spreads for sudden flight, 
And back he led to earth, with vigor to 
Renew the diabolic work ; where soon 
Not one of all the race but was beset 
By suich as found his temperamental bent 
Most pliant to their special aptitude. 
In individuals they conspired to make 
The spirit bondman to the' flesh, and so 
Succeeded that, as moved the years, mankind 
Became responsive, till the nebulous 
Communities began rotating as 
The passions lent a whirling force, and took 
Completed form as individual worlds ; 
Yet not with gravitative harmony. 
But humans, in the tyranny of might, 
Grew demoniacal — as Jungfraus in 
Ambition's towering Alps, snow-clad in 
Their sympathies, and horror-smiting when 
The thundrous avalanches of their wrath 



A POEM— CANTO XIII 241 

Were loosed. Forgetful of their brotherhood, 

They massed themselves antagonistic, these 

To those, in savage mood ; kept all the earth 

Empurpled with their gore, and left behind 

A desert whitened with the bones of men. 

Thus rose the tyrants of an age, and then 

Decayed within the deadening clutch of some 

Voracious parasite, which fell in turn 

Before some other parasite. So dark 

Were men in mind and in their heart perverse. 

From out the gloaming of a cloudy dawn 

Rose Khita with a gourmand's maw for power, 

Gorging herself as if to gulp the earth. 

Till Misraim interfered and shared the prey. 

Then forced her way to super-emnience, 

And at the climax of her proud estate 

Ground nations twixt the millstones of her might, 

By her oppressions prompting the revenge. 

And her magnificence the envy, of 

The world. In paying homage to the brute, 

She gained a brutishness of character, 

And perished as the brute. A motley host. 

As by a whirlwind impetus, was swept 

Together, and Chaldea from the mass 

Arose to temporary splendor, which 

Assyria, as a simoon, blasted and 

Assimilated; in her heart a brute. 

Her head a fiend, with skill to execute 

At the dictation both of brute and fiend. 

Then Babylonia, the preceder and 

Successor, pattern and absorber of 

Them all, became the world's great god of power, 

16 — 



242 MANSON'S VISION 

Affecting such achievements as would mock 
The blazonry of Time. But not with long 
Impunity could Time be mocked ; for though 
The psuedo god had fattened on the past, 
Her fatness tempted Medo-Persian gust, 
Which glutted not until she picked the bones 
Of a huge continent. Thus came they, one 
By one, like beasts, devouring and devoured, 
And left their skeletons upon the sands 
Of time. From out the desolation then 
Appeared transcendent Greece, emerging like 
A mountain out of mist effulgent with 
Meridian splendor that reflected, while 
Increasing, the esthetic glory of 
The ages. Imagination monarchized 
The mind. The passions were exalted to 
The virtues of the gods, in copying which 
Men wallowed in the mire of sensuousness, 
Debasing so their noblest attributes. 
The soul as darksome as a cave in which 
Stalacites hang in beauty cold and dead. 
And left her helpless in a serpent's coils. 
The Macedonian meteor having burst 
And left confusion in its wake. Then swung 
Another theater its doors, and showed 
Another set of wrestlers on the stage. 
Phenecla, having gained the fullness of 
Development, would test the thews of her 
Amphibious power, and Carthage dared to thrust 
A borrowed lance against the shields of Rome, 
Provoking a retaliatory wrath 
To execute exterminating vengeance; 



A POEM— CANTO XIII 243 

So satisfying both her greed and -fear. 

Then stood the conqueror astride the world, 

And in the rigor of depotic might 

Became a cruel vintager, the world 

Her vintage, clustered nations gathered to 

The winepress of her greed, their juices drawn 

In trickling streams of blood, still to increase 

Her huge obesity. The voice of her 

Authority filled all the earth, as though 

It were one ear that heard no voice but hers 

And, hearing, made her feet a shrine. When grown 

Thus plethoric and glutted with excess. 

She had attained the two extremes — the heaven 

Of intellect, the hell of character. 

Thus empires rose, whose transient glories fain 

Had made the very sun look down from his 

Imperial throne and stare astonishment. 

And during all, the human mind kept on 

Developing in rugged massiveness. 

When the stupendous in achievement was 

The vogue. Proud Egypt would immortalize 

Herself in pyramids and Karnacs, and 

Still prouder Babylon, with dazzle of 

Her greatness, blind the eye of Rivalry. 

Their still-expanding powers incited them 

To reach new ideals of the intellect. 

Which rose in glittering splendor, height on height, 

As Alps, to reach the region of the gods; 

When Greece with her voluptuous genius tranced 

Mankind, her visions and her wizardry 

Of head and hand impressed on concrete things, 

Imparting quasi animation, and a 



244 MANSON'S VISION 

Charm that fascinates the eye of Time, 

Which looks on them as having had a touch 

And glamor of divinity. Then Rome 

Appropriated, bodied and ensouled 

The glories of the intellectual world, 

And strove to give men's concepts of the gods 

An anagramic unity. And e'en 

These phantoms, these imaginary noughts, 

Were fashioned by gigantic intellects 

Exaggerating human qualities 

That, unlike Egypt, scorned to grovel as 

Inferior to the brute. So they upraised 

The intellect, strengthened and fitted it 

To soar in vaster and diviner realms. 

From loftier peaks of thought to peer into 

The clearing atmosphere. Satan, who saw 

And fostered, comprehended not the geist 

Of these conditions, which were pregnant with 

The ideals of milleniums noted in 

The calendar of time, but thought they were 

Developments that would, as erst the flesh. 

Debase, and sink men in presumptuous pride. 

But He who gave impulsion to the first 

Beheld the last, anticipated and 

Prepared the providential grooves in which 

Should move the wheels of this development; 

And through the moral chaos of the years 

His spirit brooded o'er the darksome void." 



CANTO XIV 



CANTO XIV 

"Let there be light ! So spake the Infinite, 

Then flashed the sword of His omnipotence, 

When from Chaldean night the patriarch 

Of Ur emerged and struck the kindhng spark 

From which a flame should start and widen in 

Its area through the ages, until all 

The earth be glorious in the light of truth. 

Without the pomp of earthly state, he had 

The grandeur of unwavering fealty 

To the infallible authority. 

Made so the spiritual father of 

The race, who on Moriah stood the test 

Of faith, pointing with typic finger thence 

To Calvary, whose cross was as the world, 

And He thereon love's true synopsis of 

The mind and purpose of the Infinite. 

As Time's kaleidescope revolved, it dropt 

A rustic group, which held the heirloom of 

The sainted one, amid the thrill and glare 

Of Egypt's intellectual life and light. 

With sympathies and interests interfused — 

The ostracism of conditions as 

An isolating and impregnable 

Defense against seduction by the base 

Environment — the stamp of bondage gave 

The insignia of autonomy, 

In furnishing the base of nationhood ; 

To all of which the Archfiend craftily 



248 HANSON'S VISION 

Gave ready aid, divining these events 

As a repression of development, 

Whose ultimate would be consignment to 

The lowest level of depravity. 

But now began to dawn the Infinite's 

Designs, in which He proved supremacy 

O'er all that Egypt deified, and His 

Paternal favor toward the groaning ones 

Who bent beneath the burden of the yoke; 

For whose deliverance one was snatched from out 

A watery sepulcher and fondly nursed 

And tutored in the royal lap and school, 

Then hardened by experience for the toils 

Of leadership. Their fetters broken, soon 

They were exhilarated as they breathed 

The air of liberty. The tented host 

Had restful halt, when clomb their leader up 

The cloud-capt, thunder-guarded mount, where the 

Invisible would fill the atmosphere 

With awe, while giving man the cornerstone 

Of the eternal law on which should rest 

The highest ideals of the coming time; 

Ideals exceeding in enduring strength 

Egyptian pyramids of thought. This to 

The fiend was Fortune's favoring hour, in which 

Was oflFered an inviting hand ; and now. 

To grasp it, he appeared with leaders on 

A distant mount, in wonted majesty 

Of person, and envenomed speciousness 

In his address, which vented thus : 

'Ye great 
Immortal potentates ! We meet to take 



A POEM— CANTO XIV 249 

An inventory of affairs, and thence , 

Deduce the modes of policy to thwart 

The Foe. As known, these fugitives were in 

Our grip, squeezed until being lost its last 

Sweet drop of juice, and was a dry rind of 

Soul-deadening drudgery. The Foe, aroused 

To measure our advantage, interposed 

With physical phenomena until 

The final weapon left His armory; 

Which juncture called for counteracting means. 

For there was inkle of some dark design — 

A sunset cloudbank that foreboded storm. 

Then with tempestuous thoughts and fears I lashed 

His mind who meted out their state, making 

Him deeper root his purpose to contemn 

The mandates and defy the prowess that 

Presumed to strike at his authority. 

But physical omnipotence prevailed 

To bring the physical result that now 

Obtains; which is a change of state, but not 

Of character. That character 'tis ours 

To eternize in opposition to 

The Foe. So may we rouse omnipotent 

Resentment that will set on them the foot 

Of an exterminating wrath. He who 

Has led is absent for instruction, as I 

Ween, to lantern him through darksome days ; 

And with him goes the visible — the link 

Twixt them and the Invisible — which fact 

Begets our opportunity, and bids 

Us mold our means to fit the day's demand, 

That so omnipotence may have its foil. 



250 MANSON'S VISION 

For this, conditions must be made our guide. 
Note first : These fugitives have Egypt in 
Their blood, its drudgery their curriculum 
Of life, with nothing known of aught above. 
Beyond or better than the past. Here is 
Environment as unfamiliar as 
The landscape of a star, the aspect of 
These bare and barren rocks a prophecy 
Of want; rebound from toil that gave no time 
For thought, to inactivity that rusts 
Their every faculty, and brings the cares 
Of newly- found responsibilities ; 
The future a prolonged to-morrow thronged 
With dubious hopes that have a harlot's rouge. 
All these will bring a sense of lonesomeness, 
Depressing as a winter atmosphere 
That spreads in icy blackness o'er the earth. 
The edge of these conditions it is ours 
To whet until it cuts into the soul. 
And Memory has an odor of the things 
Behind, forgetful of the lash and toil, 
And Egypt smells of paradise. Then as 
They feel abandoned by the trusted one, 
And crave an intermediary between 
Themselves and the Invisible, Egypt 
Must furnish them the visible, as both 
A souvenir of what is lost and that 
Which represents Omnipotence. Thus we 
May bring them to the footstool of the brute, 
And thereby thwart the Foe ; so whether He 
Destroy or spare, we shall provoke Him to 
Defeat Himself. Go, then. Accentuate 



A POEM— CANTO XIV 251 

The tone of these conditions as you iind 
Their ear most ready to receive.' 

"At once 
They called contingents to the scene, who found 
The fickle host as clay for potter's hand, 
And gave the mind and heart the grosser form 
Of Egypt's thought and character, till they 
With molded trinkets effigied the brute, 
Then held an orgy in devotion's name, 
And so provoked a scourging of rebuke, 
Repeated oft through twoscore weary years 
Of zigzags in obedience and relapse, 
Straining their leader's patience to its break. 
So went they till the Egypt-tainted blood 
Was purged, the old life as a father's dream, 
Which perished in the flush of fortune's dawn. 
But ere their feet could reach the goal of hope, 
Transgression had its culminating stroke. 
In vindication of impartial law, 
Which would not pass the leader's trespass by. 
So there, alone, from Pisgah's top he glimpsed 
The land that in prospective long had filled 
His eye, and answered to the call of Death. 
Then went a thrill of jubilance among 
The fiends to see the people leaderless; 
While Satan, with a farther-seeing eye, 
Essayed to have the body spirited 
Away to those whose wont had been to deem 
The living voice Jehovah's oracle; 
For here w^as that whose sanctity in their 
Esteem would blur the eye of Faith, and turn 
At length their reverence to idolatry. 



252 MANSON'S VISION 

But Michael, who had oft withstood the fiend, 

Disclosed his presence in a flash of light, 

And stood in silent majesty before 

Him with a sword upraised, whose glitter seemed 

To be aquiver with almightiness. 

Nor for a season spake the fiend, but met 

The other's gaze with flaming eye, in which 

Was anger and a simulation of 

Contempt. At length his thoughts took form. 

When thus he spake : 

'Presumptuous one ! why in 
Servility dost thou persist in this 
Thy interference, in thy coward dread 
Of One whose only attribute thine own 
Or mine exceeding is the power to sway 
His scepter o'er insensate things — a power 
Whose keenest edge the might of mind can make 
Retund, and leave the smitted unimpaired 
In all his attributes? 'Tis true I wear 
The scars of His displeasure. Noble scars ! 
Mute witnesses that I am free, while thou 
Art in a splendid vassalage, adorned 
With glittering chains that hold thy nature down 
Like some poor craven at His feet. Now I 
Adjure thee, if one trace remains of the 
Irradiant dignity belonging to 
Thy rank, that thou withdraw and find employ 
More worthy of thyself.' 

"There, silent still. 
Unmoved as Patience in her calmest hour, 
Stood the opposing one, when thus the fiend : 
'Hast thou no will to act save to bow down 



A POEM— CANTO XIV . 253 

Before another's will and tremble at - 

His word? Or hast thou served so long that thou 

Art too obtuse to see and know that thou 

Hast rights? Or dost thou, in presumption, set 

Thyself to this implied dictation to 

Thy peer? I reck not which, but bid thee now 

Desist from this thy attitude, and leave 

To me the custody of these remains, 

That I may have them worthily perserved 

In monumental sanctity.' 

"Then spake 
His peer, but not in sameness of retort, 
Having respect for dignity though wrecked, . 
Nor venturing to assume the Infinite's 
Prerogative, but said, 'Jehovah give 
Thee His rebuke !' That, thought the fiend, implied 
Appeal to greater than himself, and the 
Invoked rebuke the ultimate of might — 
Omnipotence belike ; hence he recoiled 
As from a red volcano's breath, when there, 
In silence, hid from human eye, the earth 
Enbosomed the remains, and heaven received 
Its own." 

Why stand not Michael and his peers, 
I asked, between the living and the fiend 
As then the dead ? 

"The loyal powers," said he, 
"Have ever been resistant to the foe. 
Employing force or moral means. The dead 
Are inert dust, with the Omnipotent 
To yea or nay. Hence there the fiend opposed 
Omnipotence. Not so with living man, 



254 HANSON'S VISION 

Who has the yea and nay that destinate: 

Choosing the better prompt, omnipotent — 

Since he is in his Keeper's hand — or that 

Of Satan, weak as bending- reed. Of this 

The fiend by long experience knew, which made 

Him flee in haste before the potent name. 

And yet he thought the blossom of his hope 

About to burst, hence called his leaders, who, 

Responding, met among the mists that lay 

On Hermon's head, where he addressed them thus : 

'It gladdens me to meet you dignities, 
Amid conditions whose benignant smile 
Gives promise of continued benison. 
Continued, for the past has favored us. 
How we have ruffled His complacency 
To see that we, the objects of His hate. 
Have forced His choice twixt two alternatives : 
His favorites to destroy or own them ours! 
In either choice we swayed Omnipotence, 
Hence, practically, are omnipotent. 
His very efforts at defense against 
Us whisper an acknowledgment of our 
Success and His extremity; since the 
Spectacular devices for the eye, 
And wierdish nothings for the brain that breed 
Hallucination's glaring terrors for 
The soul, have been as rain on desert sands. 
Their leader's presence gave the multitude 
A show of fealty. Yet even he 
Could hold them not in swerveless constancy; 
But adverse winds of Fortune made them change, 
With murmurs of distrust, and so provoke 



A POEM— CANTO XIV 255 

The lightning of a wrath whose rutJiless bolts 

Devastated till but a drupe of the 

Original remains upon the tree 

Of time. And now their leader, too, is gone, 

Nor leaves a gossamer of influence to 

Restrain their waywardness ; while but a whiflf 

From o'er the border of the land they seek 

Allays their weariness. Then what, when they 

Discover that Obstruction's watery arms 

Are spread, forbidding their advance ? What, when 

They find that every rood of land will cost 

A life? And what when, later, comes the shock, 

On every side, of armies drunk with blood? 

Memory will be a necromancer then, 

Bringing the gone to mock their helplessness. 

And nought of them remain, or but remain 

To curse who led them there. That is the goal 

To which conditions lead, and ours it is 

To help them speed. Then go ye to the task 

As gleaners of the earth's last field. Thwack whips 

Of terror o'er the minds of kings until 

You frenzy them to bring their armies with 

The whelming force of torrents from the hills. 

Then will be seen who wields omnipotence.' 

"So made he boast to find a mockery in 
Results; for soon the Infinite, upon 
Whose finger swings the pendulum of earth. 
And at whose fiat all its forces move, 
Drew curb upon the stream that threatened, till 
It reared upon its haunches, waiting for 
The last to reach the farther shore. Forthwith 
They rid the land of impious tenants and 



256 MANSON'S VISION 

Rolled back the billows of assault, when lo ! 

They were a nation. In the childhood of 

Experience they had childhood's fickleness; 

And as the acquisitions of their might, 

So was their lust for pompous vanities, 

In emulation of the cursed of God. 

Soon, with importunate persistency, 

They clamored for a king ; and kings they got 

Till gratified to surfeiting. Then came 

Revulsion and a cleavage of the realm, 

When Dan and Bethel climaxed Israel's 

Apostacy ; and soon Assyria's broom 

Swept them as dust. Judah in turn became 

Infatuated and forsook her Help, 

When Babylonia stampt a ruthless foot 

And made Jerusalem a waste, her sons 

Compelled to drink the wine of wrath for which 

They grew the grapes. Time's wheels rolled heavily 

Along. A generation groaned and longed 

For what was lost upon the road behind. 

Without a guideboard pointing them that way, 

Or morning star above the orient rim. 

Then Satan and his leaders met midair. 

In an exultant mood, when thus he charmed 

Their ears : 

'Great potentates ! It cheers to have 
This access unto your collective ear, 
Though volumes of superlatives I need 
To voice the satisfaction that events 
Afford. Erstwhile we saw these Flexibles 
Where physical omnipotence alone 
Could clear their path. When cleared, and they 



A POEM— CANTO XIV 2^7 

Transferred to other ground, the changed location 

Changed not them. They forced their way and seized 

A fair domain, incited by necessity 

That lashed enthusiasm to a foam. 

But zeal that blazes most is soonest dead. 

Omnipotence had done its utmost for 

The flesh. Then ours it was to exercise 

Omnipotence of mind on mind, and we 

Prevailed within as had the Foe without. 

Their lap became o'erheaped with golden store. 

We gave that heap corrosion such as ate 

Into their very soul. They shone with a 

Magnificence that drew the stare of half 

The world. We gave them dizziness until 

Topheaviness upon the throne reversed 

The order of prospective destiny. 

Their hopes reached out to grasp a hand that was 

To make their power the axis of the world. 

We filled their hand with ashes, and entombed 

Their fair domain in desolation's dust. 

What sleepers were the sentinels of the 

Omnipotent, to kt us seize, within 

A moiety, the treasure it was theirs 

To guard ! nor yet awake, to let us make 

The final fraction of the race our own. 

Ah! how shall they retake who could not keep? 

But we had power to get, and now to keep. 

We move the hand whose fingers — Babylon 

And Egypt — move the world the way we will. 

Methinks that Fortune waits in breathlessness 

To see the outline of our time-long — ay, 

Of our eternal plans, to furnish us 



258 MANSON'S VISION 

All needed means. With such a record, such 

A prospect — having brought the last of earth 

To a renunciation of allegiance — we 

Have given quietus to His bruising thoughts 

Who, thinking wishes are realities. 

Deemed all the future His. Then let us keep, 

Develop and employ what we have gained, 

That it may serve us as a rung in the 

Far-reaching ladder of ascent. Of the 

Atomic incidents that make the sum 

Of these results I speak not, nor attempt 

To shadow forth a plan to fit unformed 

Events, which may be better fitted when 

We have the form. Still I and you have thoughts, 

And thoughts breed thoughts — a fruitful progeny 

That keep no genealogy ; and now. 

In this triumphant hour, they all must smile 

So cheeringly that I should like to have 

You introduce them, each to all.' 

"Belial 
Was first to introduce his thoughts. 

'Great Chief,' 
He said, T see the ladder of ascent. 
Whose rungs to mount were as to step from star 
To star in skirting the circumference 
Of space. You set the ladder in the soil 
Of Eden, and we climbed a rung to look 
Upon a dead world's watery grave. The next 
Rung where a world's dead soul was wrapt in an 
Egyptian shroud. The next when empires, like 
Volcanic islands in the sea, arose 
And had sterility of character. 



A POEM— CANTO XIV 259 

And now this stimulated residue 

Of mankind, meant to be the vital germ, 

Assimilating all the elements 

Of earth, becomes the prey of parasites; 

In all of which developments we were 

The impetus. Then we who thus have climbed 

Can still ascend from known realities 

To regions of the inconceivable.' 

"Said Mammon, 'We must keep in mind the means 
Of past success. Egyptian bondage was 
A cordon of the soul that kept it in 
Restraint. Freedom and plenty brought rebound 
That rioted in wantoness of will. 
Bondage again is theirs ; yet not with 
Dull stolidity to grind away the yearSi 
But with their every thought of other days 
A sting whose poison brings a festering sore 
To every sensibility. This we 
Must aggravate, by tantalizing them 
With hopes that breed revolt, and so provoke 
Repressive vengeance, when, resentful in 
Distrust, their hearts will turn against the One 
Unseen as causing what ourselves have done.' 

"Then Bacchus thus : 'The past is in the grave, 
Where standing, I pronounce its elegy : 
Thou silent one, so boisterous in thy day! 
We have a memory of thy fickle moods; 
Thy brimful promises and empty deeds ; 
Thy smiles and tears that shuttlecocked our hearts; 
Thy silences when we had ears to hear, 
And thunders when we craved nepenthic sleep; 
Thy winter pelting us with icy fears; 



26o HANSON'S VISION 

Thy summer mellowing into hopefulness. 

The last drop from thy cup is best remembered ; 

For which we pardon and absolve thy soul. 

Sleep thou while, jocund in the present, we 

Pursue the whirl atrip with virgin Hope. 

Sleep well. We would not wake thee from a sleep 

So sound. Ay, sleep. We have no grudge against 

Thee. Death has settled our accounts. I scan 

Thy pedigree. Child of Eternity, 

Sire of the Is, grandsire of Is-to-be. 

O Chief ! the Is exhilarates me to 

The point of ecstacy, and I would thus 

Invoke the favor of the Is-to-be: 

Wake up infant Is-to-be! 
Wake up with a smile for me ; 
Or if thou wilt wake to weep, 
I would have thee stay asleep. 

Wake thou up with joyous crow. 
Stretch thy little limbs and grow; 
For my faith already can 
See in thee the coming man. 

Wake and prattle now to me 
Of the better things to be; 
Of the worlds that we shall win 
In the years that now begin. 

Wake, for here thy father stands 
With a guerdon in his hands, 
And a promise that his son 
More shall do than he has done. 



A POEM— CANTO XIV 261 

Wake, nor let thy father's Word 
Which my inner ear has heard, 
By thy Hfe in mute reply. 
Be pronounced a father's He. 

Wake, and when a man thou art, 
Tell the secret to my heart, 
What our worlds of power will be 
In thy years, O, Is-to-be. 

Chief ! I look upon the earth as ours 
By right of might. I hear the hiccough of 
Her madness, and confess myself the cause. 

1 see her stagger to descent into 

A state where I have kindled hell. I feel 

The shudder of her agony as thrills of bliss. 

And think of all as at a banquet of 

Our hope, whose viands are despairing groans, 

Seasoned with curses on our appetite. 

These are our trophies in the Is-to-be. 

And may the Foe be there to see !' 

'My thoughts, 
Are with the was,' said Moloch. T recall 
When by the mount there were but neophytes, 
Held by the Foe in tutelage. I gave 
Their hearts a blinding touch and led them to 
The ditch, then kept them mired for twoscore years. 
Next, in their heyday of autonomy, 
I cushioned themi in soul-security. 
Allayed the rancor of the conflict days. 
And had them hob-nob with our devotees " 
Until their hearts became susceptible 



262 MANSON'S VISION 

To the zymotic influence circling them; 

And now our gloating minions have them 

In duress, where they will blend their characters 

To one dull neutral hue. Already they 

Are neutral to the sight of the Unseen. 

But they shall yet become personified 

As black damnation to His eye. Then shall 

We be prepared to form our plans for new 

Emprise upon a vaster scale.' 

"He ceased. 
Then Satan added thus: 

'Your thoughts are all 
Most worthy of yourselves. Nor need I more 
Than echo Moloch's final word. We must 
Mature a general plan for earth; a plan 
From which we may project into the vast 
Domain beyond ; for which prepare yourselves.' 

"That said, they vanished, full of bubble thoughts 
That could but float in emptiness and burst, 
Displaying animus and ignorance." 

How iterant, said I, was their boasting pride. 
Said he : 

"It was the only theme where thought 
Could find a clime congenial to their nature. 
And having nothing good to contemplate, 
They made a pseudo goodness of their deeds. 
And kept it ever in their eye, that self 
Might be on easy terms with self, and find 
An inspiration to persistent hope'. 
But during all, the Infinite gave truth 
An impact on the thought of master powers. 
That they might take the light from Mercy's hand. 



A POEM— CANTO XIV 263 

Some took the lantern but refused the light, 

And kept its form in silhouette upon 

Their palace walls. So there it was, lightless 

As mummy sepulchered in desert sand, 

Till time should bring it forth to certify 

The cardinals of fact and truth received, 

Which now is done. And though but dimly seen, 

It is deciphered by the ready eye, 

And therein recognized its origin. 

Upon the obverse of these great events 

Was that of discipline, to press the cup 

Of Babylon to Judah's lip, and make 

Her drink the gall of its idolatry, 

To have her keep a lingering taste of its 

Nauseating bitterness — nor did it fail. 

At length the night of discipline was past, 

And laid aside her penitential robes. 

When from their closeted seclusion came 

Her laws and history, graved on more than stone, 

And cleared away the gathered dust of years. 

Then had her dumb harps loosened tongues of joy. 

Dumb? Ah! when on the willows hung, those harps 

Were still eolean to her secret ear; 

Nor Babylonia's breezes changed their tone 

Of individuality from its divine 

Identity. At length they had a new 

Twang to the olden songs, and Zion waved 

The banners of her ecstacy. Though to 

Her tongue had come a lisp — a sibboleth 

Acquired in contact with the foreign tongue — 

Her words were true in import as the mind 

Of God; for not her spirit bent beneath 



264 MAN SON'S VISION 

Its yoke to kiss the chains that galled, but past 

And future there were hyphened, eternized, 

And Freedom blew the trump of jubilee. 

When came the dayspring of autonomy. 

She thought the future had a smiling face. 

That dayspring soon displayed the morning bow 

That omens a tempestuous day. She had 

The scaffolding ; but never was it hers 

To raise a topstone of autonomy. 

And duplicate the prowess of the past ; 

For by distractions of intrigue and strife, 

She tore the ancient laurels from her brow, 

Brake, one by one, the columns of her strength, 

When nations trampled on her weakness with 

Impunity ; yet whom she trusted for 

Deliverance, this from that and that from this, 

With vacillation pitiful, till Rome 

Stept forth and bound her with a friendly chain, 

Whose links were galling to the very bone, 

And kept her groaning in her helplessness. 

Still the attritions of an age when minds 

Were stepping in the starpaved paths of thought, 

Produced a glow of intellectual fire, 

Which glowed to scorch instead of cheer ; to shew 

The dark instead of light their way. While thus, 

Her leaders held the torch of truth as in 

A mummied hand, whose light shone out 

In contrast with the darkness circling them, 

And sanguine ones were looking for the dawn — 

The Sun of righteousness — the promised Seed." 



CANTO XV 



CANTO XV 

While he unfolded thus the story of 
The world's development, I was upon 
A mental promontory, whence I looked 
Across the sea of time and saw the great 
Upheavals of mankind, and heard the roar 
Of its tempestuous elements, which rolled 
The billows on the shuddering- shore, strewing 
It with the wrecks of empires. Then the scene, 
As in a panorama, passed, and I 
Beheld an empire that embraced the power 
And glory of the world ; in having which 
The demons had the world, with Satan's eye 
And hand upon the whole, involving me 
In deep perplexity, since it implied 
The fiend's ubiquity, and that again 
The attribute of omnipresence in 
A finite, else the finite acting with 
A simultaneous power on every mind 
Without the attribute, either of which 
Involved a paradox, when thus he spake: 

"An omnipresence has relation to 
A sphere. That of the Infinite extends 
From every movement of the inmost orb 
To those that fringe the outer belt in space, 
And all are subject to the action of 
His will, which is their law ; while Satan acts 
As mind on mind upon the earth alone. 
And is an infinite as man is to 



268 HANSON'S VISION 

A ball of mites — not in his personal 

Dimensions, but capacity to see 

And act with mental power, affecting so 

The senses and the will. The insect with 

Its compound eye, the beast its keener scent, 

And bird, that soars above the mountain peaks, 

Leave man still regally above them all, 

With quasi omnipresence. Though but on 

The threshold of his possibilities, 

The lightning is the lackey of his thought, 

Bearing his messages from zone to zone. 

And with a flash he moves a world of mind. 

But Satan, who retains archangelhood, 

Has power transcending man's as his the fly. 

The hound, the eagle — fetterless as thought, 

And mundane distance little but a name. 

Then deem it not incredible that while with 

Supersensuous eye he looks upon 

Man's thoughts as he upon material things, 

He should, with super-telepathic power. 

Be acting on the minds of all, as on 

The keys of some great instrument, and by 

His touch producing discord on the earth. 

He prompts withal his underleaders, who 

In turn their followers, as executors, 

To operate through sense upon the soul. 

So through the ages he has done, at once 

Developed in his nature as a fiend, 

And waxed in skill as widened out the field." 

His power, I said, and past achievements seemed 
To make him destinator of the race. 

"So thought the fiend, not knowing that he was 



A POEM— CANTO XV 269 

Roug-h-hewing what should be fouixlation stones, 

On which the Infinite would build up, age 

By age, the temple of humanity. 

But while in his exulting ignorance 

He looked for triumph's consummating hour. 

Earth's eye of faith was poring o'er the page 

Whose prophecies became illuminant, 

Flooding men with the splendor of a hope; 

And Expectation listened at the door 

To hear the footsteps of the coming Seed. 

Although the hope was not the Seed, to him 

It seemed a resurrection from the dead, 

The vitalizing of forgotten dust. 

Thus then he reasoned with himself : 

'What next. 
When four milleniums that have fattened on 
The glories of my power are bilious with 
A hope of the impossible ? Ay, the 
Impossible. But soon a dose of fact 
Will bring relief, and appetize the age 
For my purveyance. Let the hopers, then. 
Be gorged. Revulsion will be greater at 
The end. But no ! They have no hope, for hope 
Has something under it. They only wish. 
And wishes are but Fancy gasping for 
Fresh air. They in imagination see 
A something robed in cast-off clothes. 
And age by age has had who gave to it 
A voice. Then Silence breathed its epitaph. 
But lo ! its ghost appears above its grave, 
And at the sight this visionary cult 
Imagines it can hear a unison 



270 MAN SON'S VISION 

Of voices coming from the caverns of 

Past years, of which it is interpreter. 

Hence with dogmatic confidence it prates, 

As though some overwhehning power were nigh, 

Prepared to seize the earth and swerve it from 

The orbit of my plans. 'Tis but a wish, 

I say — a shadow ; still, sufficient to 

Divert attention that way when I will 

It this ; and so 'tis an impediment. 

Well, while their wish is striding west the earth 

Is turning east, and they with it; and I 

Am gravitation to the earth. But the 

Vitality of a delusion ! How 

It clings unto the skirts of Time until 

Its hand is numb ! and then 'tis shaken loose. 

But call the wish a hope, and say it has 

A basis of reality. What then? The Seed, 

Of woman born, would be like woman — weak. 

Enough. Let the fond dreamers have their dream.' 

"While thus affecting unconcerned contempt. 
His thoughts were burdened with the Eden curse. 
And though the hoping could not bring the Seed, 
And they who hoped were insignificant 
In power, the hope had a significance 
That could not be ignored. Therefore, 
The more he thought of it the more disturbed 
Became his mind, and with profounder thought. 
More dark the cloud of his perplexity. 
Intensifying his uneasiness. 
Awhile irresolute, at length he called 
The leaders to a midair council twixt 
Jehovah's temple and the stars, where he 



A POEM— CANTO XV 2-1 

Addressed them thus : 

'Ye great victorious ones ! 
Victorious? Ay, We have the harvest and 
The Foe the gleaning, which shall yet be ours, 
Though it involves a small emergency. 
But our emergencies expand the mind, 
And we become a/ greater self ; and as 
The self is greatened so is the ground for hope. 
Since last we met the Foe has exercised 
Increased activity. His trusted ones 
We left beneath the Babylonion heel. 
Groaning in abject helplessness. The heel 
Was raised by rival leverage, and they 
Regained the old domain. And though we scourged 
Them with a thousand difficulties, they 
Attained a splendor having semblance of 
The old autonomy, in which was more 
Of glitter than the gold of fealty; 
The glitter of our burnishing, which might 
Today deceive a thousand gods. Thus much 
Conceded — there a loss and here a gain — 
We feel at once a spur of stimulus 
And pat of kind encouragement, when lo ! 
We stumble o'er the new emergency. 
A something that is nothing in itself, 
Save as a symptom of unrest, is what 
Suggested that we meet in council thus. 
You may recall that in my first report 
Was mention of an incidental of 
The curse pronounced : the promise of a Seed 
With bruising power, and I the object to 
Be bruised. That promise-threat I treated with 



272 HANSON'S VISION 

Contempt, and now would leave asleep among 

The things that were. But those there are who will 

Not let it lie there undisturbed. We have 

Beheld world-wanderers rush through space, 

Having portentious terrors for mankind. 

So, but with opposite effects, have come 

And gone great dreams of that portentious threat. 

And now the dreaming cult proclaims the time 

Of its fulfillment at the door ; by which 

They stimulate a common hope, and make 

Themselves impregnable to our assault. 

While causing turmoil in the common mind, 

With expectations that infatuate. 

To set ourselves against their hope would be 

To raise a hand to stop a hurricane. 

For this their hope is but an eager wish : 

And eager wishes have a second-sight 

That sees realities in nothingness. 

Hence, to attack their hopes is to attack 

A nought, with nought as our reward. 

But we may make their hope a base for ours, 

By urging it to ruinous excess. 

First, we must chafe the spots where galls the yoke 

Of Rome, until the smart infuriates 

Their zealotry, and so deflects their view 

That they will see Deliverance holding out 

Her hand, while Fortune winks and lures them on. 

Next, goad the jealousy of Rome to tread 

Them into dust with her relentless foot, 

Giving their dreams fulfillment in a dread 

Reality that leaves them in despair. 

To do this is our task, the hozv our problem. 



A POEM— CANTO XV 273 

To its solution I invite your thought.' ♦ 
"Behal responded thus : 

'Most worthy Chief 
And peers ! The key of skill that has unlocked 
The problems of the past will serve us here. 
The length of arm that reaches o'er the seas; 
The strength that tore the crown from Carthage and 
That asks no odds of earth or heaven when thus 
And so it wills; — that arm, that strength is ours. 
Ay, Rome is ours, and having Rome, we have 
A mightiness to wrench the orbs of power 
From out their spheres and grind them into dust. 
What, then, is this poor fatuous weakling with 
Its head upon her lap? Belike she boxed 
Its ears until the sparks flew and it thought 
Them stars that omened luck ; and so it hopes ! 
But I have thoughts that look to ultimates ; 
Thoughts that, enforced, would exeunt Rome and all 
The paraphernalia of earthly power. 
Deaden the tree, its every branch will die. 
Rome is the tree and they a graft in it. 
Then deaden Rome and they perforce will die, 
And this magnificence of sanctity 
Beneath us, with its ceremonial pomps. 
And every vestige of the past, be as 
The dust of Babylon. These hopers, had 
They once been grafts in Babylon, as now 
In Rome, had shared the doom of Babylon. 
Our efforts, then, must be to worm our way 
Into the roots of Rome until her bulk 
Above becomes too heavy for the state 
Of rottenness below ; then farewell to 

18 



274 MANSON-'S VISION 

The hope of these resistants, whom to save 

The efforts of a thousand Seeds would be 

In vain. How then could come the bruise ? Now seen 

The task, the how of its performance is 

A challenge to our skill, accepting which 

My thoughts are piercing to the deepest roots ; 

And there I find unwilling servitude 

That fain would have the empire topper o'er^ 

In hope of better where could not be worse. 

I rise, and at the surface find a girth 

That is but massive fickleness, prepared 

To yield the way that Fortune's tempest blows. 

I need but give a zest to appetite 

To have them gnaw till comes the topple and 

The thundrous crash.' 

"He ceased, when Mammon spake 
With eager fluency : 

'Great Chief, and ye 
Illustrious ones ! To me this hope smacks more 
Of prophecy than threat, in that it shows 
Relax of hold on that which is and grope 
For what is not. As they relax we have 
Encouragement to seize, and as they grope 
A chance to take their hand and lead our way. 
While Belial gives attention to the roots. 
And waits the crash of the tremendous fall. 
Be mine to blight the leaves, the branches and 
The bole, the hopers with the rest, and leave 
No' trace of its vitality to make 
A future sprouting possible. I dream 
Not here in this; tinkle no empty boast; 
Pursue no phantom hope, but with an eye 



A POEM— CANTO XV 275 

Wide open see the end of what is well 

Begun. The farthest provinces I keep 

A-flutter for revolt, the nearer sway 

With rivalries for pomp and riotous 

Indulgence, while the central power is kept 

Aquiver with insatiate desires. 

With such efficiency I operate 

That few are rich whose dainties savor not 

O'f blood ; few who have intellectual wealth 

But have a miser heart ; few in the seats 

Of justice but would drain the public veins, 

And few who formulate the laws but put 

In them a sordid element of self. 

Thus from the roots and bole to farthest tip, 

The tree is deadening ; and when comes the fall, 

The thews of Havoc shall expend their strength 

In hewing it to burn, and after that 

Our feet walk o'er the ashes of its doom.' 

"Next Bacchus, with a lightsome gleam upon 
His countenance spake thus : 

'Great Chief and peers! 
When last we met for interchange of thought, 
In fitting words I elegized the was, 
And lyricized in hope the Is-to-he. 
But every hope has withered in the scorch 
Of years, of which I gather up the leaves 
That lie about the feet of 7^, and lay 
rhem with new hopes upon the bier of Was. 

Is-to-be has changed his name, 
Nor in nature is the same; 



276 MANSON'S VISION 

Hence we look on him no more 
As we looked on him before. 

He awoke to work us ill, 
With his ways our pleasure kill ; 
Struck us with his little hands, 
In contempt of our commands. 

As he grew in strength and years. 
He provoked us into fears ; 
For our fairest hopes he fought, 
Caring not to please in aught. 

Better he had never been 
Than to fill his life with sin ; 
Sin of which we pay the cost 
In the hopes that we have lost. 

Knowing that his days are spent. 
We would not his end lament. 
Hoping better things to see 
In another Is-to-be. 

There ! that is a biography of Hope 

That laughed and danced its day, then died. Time is 

A graveyard crammed with buried hopes ; buried 

So deep that there is room' for more above, 

Tier upon tier. And we have many dear 

Ones buried there ; to think of which might make 

A statue weep. But, side by side with ours, 

The Foe has many in eternal sleep. 

My memory treads again the beaten road. 

Made dusty by the feet of yesterdays, 

And looks adown the vista of the years 



A POEM— CANTO XV 2^7 

To where the fathers of these devotees 
Hobbled on crutchy promises that failed 
Them as we made the nations give the trip. 
And now I see the children taking- up 
The crutches of the' sires, to hobble as 
Of old. The mitered ones have fallen at 
My touch, and they who were the oracles 
Of the Unseen succumbed before my power, 
And with them fell embattled hosts of hope. 
Then ask, Are their successors more than they? 
Or have my shafts been blunted at the point? 
What help have these to stand where others fell? 
Or what can they in gyves who fell when free? 
Nay ,but their present hope is born of their 
Despair. But what if came the wondrous Seed ? 
They are themselves and as themselves will do ; 
As part of Romey their lot be that of Rome. 
But I control the appetite of Rome ; 
And appetite is the imperial Power; 
The Power to give their sentence in the court 
Of destiny.' 

"Then Moloch, looking grave 
As some moss-covered monument, spake thus: 

'Illustrious Chief and partners in the strife ! 
What, were these hopers grafted into Rome ? 
They still would bear their native kind of fruit. 
But no. Though in they are no part of Rome. 
In Egypt they were magnetized so that 
They have attractive sympathies; nor the 
Vicissitudes of time have lessened their 
Magnetic power, which isolates them from 
The non-affinities. And should Rome sink 



278 MAN SON'S VISION 

Into a sea of dark forgetfulness, 
They still would rise above the gulping of 
The waves. Ay, let Rome perish, ground to dust. 
And they with Rome, between the millstones of 
Almighty power, their very dust would come 
Together with an impulse to cohere. 
Hence I with you, O Chief ! would magnify 
The mirage of their hope and urge pursuit. 
When they shall realize that every age. 
And all their trusted oracles have mocked 
Them, will be Fortune's hour for our designs. 
Then not to autonomic anarchy 
I look for their discomfiture, but to 
A change of character, of thought and trust, 
Which may develop as we supervise. 
In mental, moral and the physical 
There are carnivora and ruminantia. 
Each with its own specific appetite. 
These, then, must be fed on what will please. 
Give them their pomps, their quillets and conceits, 
All liveried in the robes of sanctity, 
And keep their thoughts turned inward on themselves 
Until the ego deifies itself. 
They will be our obsequious servitors. 
Yet think, mayhap, that they are bruising us.' 
"Then Satan thus, as in complacent mood : 
'In what you say I see so many beams 
Of fact from one great sun of thought. I view 
The past with all its glory of achievement. 
I see the mouth of Fury open, and 
I hear the smack of watery lips that gulp 
A world. I look and see the cleaving of 



A POEM— CANTO XV 279 

A racial cornerstone, whose splinters I 

Appropriated to display our power. 

The centuries rolled upon their groaning- wheels, 

Yet nothing inkled of the promised Seed. 

I see the partiality that nursed 

And brought a race to a conspicuous height, 

Then fixed its gaze upon a golden world 

Of promises, when we stept in between 

It and that world ,and midnight settled down 

Upon its hopes ; and still, when needed most, 

No promised Seed appears. I look again. 

And see the weakling raise its feeble head. 

And soon 'tis cooing in the lap of Rome, 

Cheered by the glitter of a tinsel hope 

That seems a foregleam from the golden world. 

And so the Seed is only yet a hope. 

With such a record it is ours to hope. 

Albeit they are hoping with a new 

Tenacity that sees the nothing at 

Their door. And so the hope flows on into 

A dead sea ever filling, never full. 

Belial and Mammon see the fall of Rome, 

And these fond dreamers crushed beneath the wreck. 

But they who outlived Babylon and her 

Transcendent glory may rejuvenate. 

But Moloch shows preliminary means, 

Suggesting that we draw these nurslings from 

The bosom of the trusted One whom they 

Have served, and wean them from the memory of 

His name, that when they lie beneath the wreck 

Of Rome, that wreck may prove their grave, since 

Cursed by Him whose bosom they had left. Here, then, 



28o MANSON'S VISION 

Our problem is, to cure them of their hope. 

To romanize them is the remedy — 

Not as to form, to eye, to consciousness; 

But romanize their heart. Transfigure their 

Conception of the object of the hope, 

That it may be no more a person but 

An ideal born of the collective mind — 

Which is the Woman amplified by long 

Descent — and that, personified, will be 

The promised Seed. Then open to the mind 

A vision of such possibilities 

Of power, aggrandizement and glory as 

Will dazzle the imagination of 

Some fiery zealot, moving him to fire 

The wrath of Rome. Then let the flames of her 

Consuming fury burn. That done, the earth 

Is ours, and not an evening zephyr will 

Be laden with a whisper of the Seed.' 

"Ere fell the last word from his lips, a sheen 
Of overpowering splendor burst above 
The slumbering hills of Bethlehem, and an 
Innumerable throng of shining ones 
Was visible, and gave a glory-shout 
Of, 'Peace on earth, good will to men !' and in 
The glad refrain announced — the Seed had come!" 

That said, I was enveloped by a mist, 
Which thickened into darkness, followed by 
A sense of earthening, and behold ! the end. 

FINIS. 



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